The Requiem
by Pretty Shimmie
Summary: Her illness was always curing others. She wanted to find a cure. The cure to her illness. The cure for the Green Requiem. The story of Kingdom Hearts through the eyes of a Heartless.
1. Prologue

**The Requiem**

About ten years ago in the glorious halls of Hollow Bastion, a little girl of about four was meandering along by herself. Her soft footsteps echoed loudly on the tile.

The castle was deserted.

Amber light filtered in through the library windows. She glanced up at the dust particles highlighted from the windows and smiled. Every now and then she took a swipe at them, just to see the dust swirl about in chaos.

The child stood in front of one of the windows and looked at her shadow. She raised her right arm. It raised its left arm. She waved. It waved. She shook her head. It shook its head. She laughed. It did nothing. Her shadow disappeared as she walked away from the window towards the sky scraping bookshelves.

She picked out one of the books and opened it. The words were nothing to her; merely symbols on a page. Shutting it, she went deeper into the labyrinth and placed it on another shelf. Something heavy dragged itself across the carpeted floor. She turned sharply.

It was only a bookshelf.

Going on her merry way, the girl picked out more random books and put them in random places just to see the shelves move. She giggled despite the encroaching feeling of loneliness.

She walked from the library to the entrance hall. Looking down on the first floor from behind the fountain, her lips formed a pout when no one was to be found.

The girl fingered one of her pigtails, loose brown ringlets with green ribbons in her hair. They flounced a little with every step she made down the right set of curving stairs. Step. Step. Step.

Sniffling, she wiped her nose and tried not to cry. She felt so lost without her mother. So lost, in fact, that she missed the last step and fell. Right into the strong arms of King Ansem.

She beamed as he picked her up. "Fankoo King Ansem!" she squealed, kissing his tan left cheek in gratitude. He gave a small smile and brushed a little curl out of her face. His white gloves were soft against her pale forehead.

"You are quite welcome, my dear," he replied in his deep voice. "But what is one as young as you are wandering about by yourself?" Her large, turquoise eyes averted their gaze to the floor sadly. "I'm lost," she murmured.

King Ansem began to walk slowly to the grand doors. "Well then," he said. "Let's see what we can do to find your mother." The little girl's face brightened. "Weally?" she inquired, her sadness vanishing instantaneously. His smile widened slightly. "Yes, of course my dear. It's just…" His voice trailed off.

"Just what?" she asked curiously. King Ansem pushed open the heavy doors with his free side, letting the warm, golden twilight enter the dim room. She raised a hand to cover her unadjusted, squinting eyes. The sky looked like it had been painted. Oranges, pinks, burnt blues, plums, purples; all of these colors brightened the clouds.

"It's just that I have to finish some work, and I think that you are just the person to help me," he told her. With her other hand, she tapped her lips with a finger, thinking. "Ooh!" she squealed, having been just struck by an idea. "Wha-if I helped you firfst, fen we went to find Mommy?"

King Ansem's face lit up. "Why, that's a prefect idea!" He set her down on her own two feet and held her tiny left hand with his monstrous right one. "Now come with me. I have a secret place where I work."

"Why is it secret?" she asked. He responded, "So no one will steal anything." She tugged on his hand. "Whattya do?" King Ansem began to push the doors closed. "It has something to do with the dark."

She bit her lip. "I don't like the dark!" she moaned squeamishly. He smiled. "Now, my dear, I think after you help me you'll like the dark a lot better." The last she ever saw of Hollow Bastion was that trickling fountain.


	2. Chapter 1

**The Requiem**

It would be a very long time before I ever saw Hollow Bastion the way it was before the Heartless.

A VERY long time.

But even then, nothing could ever really be like it was. Everything had changed too much. Fear had taken over. We had seen new places and met new people. Our lives had been forever altered because of King Ansem's curiosity and stupidity.

Ten years ago, on that fateful day, he had taken me to the dungeons. That was where he did his work. He knew it was the best place for his work because our world was very peaceful, thanks to the uncorrupt King Ansem.

He led me down to the dank dungeons and put me in a cell. I pressed my hands against the cold metal bars and asked him what he was doing. He told me to turn around. I screamed.

A black, bug-like creature jumped on me, slamming me into the bars.

Blood trickled down my forehead. I began to cry as I pressed my hand against the blood, dripping it everywhere. I looked at my red hand and let out a shriek. I tried to get up, but my hand was wet and slippery. I stained the bars with blood.

I stumbled around, trying my best to see through the darkness and my stinging eyes. The blood dripped into my eyes, mixing with the tears that were running down my cheeks. "King Ansem, help me!" I screamed.

His white hair made him stand out. He was standing there, just outside my prison. I reached through my confinement, thinking that if he held my hand everything would be all right. He did nothing but look down at me.

The creature threw itself at my back, making me hit the bars again and banging my head against the two bars it was pressed against. I tilted my head back and shrieked from fear and pain. King Ansem looked away.

Four black blobs skirted across the watery floor and rose up as the creatures. They cornered me against the bars.

And then they made their move.

They all sprang on me at once and ate away at me. They ripped my skin off and sucked it into their invisible mouths. One began to devour my organs. My hair lay littered over the floor like hay in a barn, the green ribbons still entwined in my curls. Bits and pieces of shredded clothing lay everywhere. And just like that, as they sucked my remains off of my bones, King Ansem turned to see the results.

A large, crystalline, multicolored heart rose out of me with a flurry of sparkles.

King Ansem sprang into action. He reached out and grabbed it, letting my heart hover gently in the palms of his hands. He rushed over to a large machine and placed my illuminating heart inside of the confusing mechanism.

The rest is a little fuzzy to me. I remember that the pain was very intense, and a creature ripped one of my eyes out of its socket and bit it in half. More creatures appeared, seemingly out of the shadows. They multiplied faster than rabbits. The more creatures came, the more they fought each other for a bite of my intestine.

It turns out that even though my human body was quite dead, the crystal heart that King Ansem had taken was actually my soul, so in a way I was still living. I could still feel little teeth biting at my brain, tearing it apart, and little tongues licking at my bones to remove all the blood, and I could still see those large, yellow eyes.

And then an amazing thing happened.

I felt no more pain. And I no longer saw those haunting eyes. Instead, I felt a body and saw the inside of the machine. With a hiss, the door to the machine opened and King Ansem's face appeared. He smiled.

"What a darling little monster you are," he said. He reached in and grabbed me, lifting my now considerably smaller body out of the scary machine. He held me like a baby as he raised a piece of metal, quite like that of a cookie cutter, and pressed it to my chest.

My eyes widened and I let out a squeaking noise, and King Ansem soon removed the cookie cutter and analyzed everything. He nodded at the results and let me go. The force of gravity had no effect on me anymore. I floated as I looked up at him, my vision heavily improved.

King Ansem guided me to a cell that was far away from the former prison I had encountered that now rotted with the stench of blood. As he shut the door, I glanced at my surroundings. I was alone, confined to life in an empty cage. "Goodbye, my Green Requiem," he said.

He had successfully completed his experiment. I was a Heartless.

**(xxx) **

Days passed, and King Ansem left me in my cell. I hovered around the room to occupy myself, shaking my hips, (or as much of hips as you could call them) and a light tinkling sound would follow. It had reminded me of a fairy I had read about in a story book, laughing gaily and glowing like the sunrise. Oh, how I wanted to see the sun!

On one of these particular days, I had slept for a great deal of time. When I awoke from my slumber, someone had joined me. The creature seemed to match my size, and it's 'dress' was red. It had a rusty orange pointed hat, and a small, licorice black face with bright, circular, yellow eyes. Spindly little bug-like legs hung out from the bottom of it. That was my first encounter with another Heartless that didn't kill me.

At the time, I didn't know what a Heartless was, or that I had become one. There were no mirrors, and the water that was with me was too cloudy for a reflection. I felt that this creature I saw and I had a sense of similarity with me, and I sought it as a kindred spirit.

"Hello..." I said to it. (Becoming a Heartless had also altered my speech.) It stared back at me. Silence ensued. It made me nervous. I was afraid it would attack me. "...Hello..." It had a high, squeaky voice that curled out smoothly with an accent.

I smiled then. "Hi! I'm..." I suddenly couldn't remember my name. Who was I? How old was I? What was my name? What am I now? Questions cornered me. "Do you not remember either?" I turned back to the creature. "Ansem did this to us. He turned us into monsters called Heartless just for his own pleasure!"

Its voice was smothered in heat, anger, and hate. I was confused. Why was it so upset with King Ansem? "I'm a Red Nocturne, so you can call me Derox. I'm a boy." Again, I was confused. Derox seemed so angry and full of hate, but he also seemed to _like_ it.

"I'm...I think King Ansem called me a Green Requiem but..." Derox hovered nearer to me. I was a child, so I didn't understand all of it then. I floated in a circle, my inside tinkling like a bell. I saw bright green sparkles. Pretty.

Derox gave me my first name. He called me Rexen, Rex for short. As days passed, even more creatures joined us. Two who looked like Derox and I were yellow and blue, and their names were Exelle and Frost. (Exelle was a girl, and Frost was a boy.)

We became friends, and I grew significantly happy with my companions. Exelle was the one to go to when you needed a laugh; she was very full of energy. Derox made you sweat. He gave you exercises to keep you strong, and we practiced shooting things.

Frost was perfect for just talking about things and calming down. He had a very odd aura around him; the kind that soothed you. (You know that really nice feeling. Where it feels like a soft, damp rag has just been placed over your forehead.) I liked him better than Derox.

They had very distinct fighting styles as well. Derox shot fire and hovered out of reach of invisible sparring partners. (He would make funny little noises like he was insulting them.) Frost shot ice and, surprisingly, was quite fast. He would jump around to avoid imaginary attacks.

Exelle could make lightning bolts appear, and she also had the most physical strength, which made Derox and Frost mad. (She would taunt them and we would giggle about it later.) The little green sparkles I noticed before actually cured my tired friends, letting us spar all the time. I also floated higher than any of my friends out of fear of attacks. We always had a lot of fun play fighting.

But there was something I had noticed in all of my new found friends. No matter how much they tried to hide it, they spoke with an unknown fury building up in their hearts.


	3. Chapter 2

**The Requiem**

Months flew by me without my knowledge. I lost all track of time. I didn't know if it was bright and sunny outside, or if I should find something to snuggle up in during winter.

I also forgot what sunlight was. My eyes had permanently adjusted to the dimness of the dungeons, and King Ansem only visited us during the dead of night to disguise his plans.

He had assistants as well; some far too eager to learn what they called 'the Secrets of Darkness'.

I didn't like them.

As time progressed, other strange creatures filled the surrounding cells.

Some wore armor that clinked as they ran without purpose around their cell; they always made me giggle. Some were fat and round and shook the floor as they stomped about, making the soldiers fall down and me laugh more. Some had fake wings and goggles.

But there were two that frightened me.

The first were the most common creatures. They were bug-like and could slink into the floor and pop up somewhere unexpected. I was right to fear them. They had torn my former body apart.

The second was simply a very large, purple suit of armor. All of the body parts could detach from each other and hurt things by themselves; especially the head. It could shoot off a cannon that made me scream. I think it did it on purpose. It was big and noisy and extremely powerful.

My friends didn't seem to share the same feelings I had about the similar but strange creatures that surrounded us.

They actually completely ignored them.

The other creatures completely ignored my friends in return.

They talked to me though.

Especially the fat men and the soldiers and the winged men.

I think they were curious about my powers. They would ask me questions about how I was and what I could do and all sorts of things. In return, they would make me laugh. The same trick never got old.

Something about these other Heartless fascinated me.

My friends couldn't hear them and they couldn't hear my friends.

I think this annoyed my friends.

They quickly lost their patience when I began conversing with other Heartless and not with them.

"Rex, we need to talk," Exelle said to me one day.

"About what?" I asked.

"About the other Heartless."

"What about them?"

"How can you hear them?"

"I don't know…I just…can."

"None of us think it's fair."

Derox and Frost lowered their altitude to meet us girls at eye level.

"That's right," Derox grumbled angrily. "We don't."

Frost said calmly, "We just miss you Rex. You don't play with us like you used to. You never talk. We feel like we're losing you to things that we don't know about."

"I'm sick and tired of hearing about them!" Derox shouted.

I blinked. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Arrrrgh! You NEVER know!"

"Derox, calm down. She's just a child," Frost said.

"Exactly! She's just a child! I'm so fed up with her! I just-ARRRGH!"

While he had been ranting, a fireball had been gathering at the top of Derox's hat. He released it as he screamed.

"Derox, no!" Exelle cried.

I turned my back to him in fear and closed my eyes.

Nothing happened.

"Huh?" I murmured, terrified.

That was when we discovered that magic didn't have any affect on me what so ever.

**(xxx)**

I woke up one morning to find that my cell was open. The door was squeaking on its hinges. It was the only audible sound.

All of the other Heartless were gone as well.

The sound of squeaking metal made me shudder.

It's hard to describe this period of my life. I was confused at what was going on. It's all just one giant blur with a few bits and pieces sticking out.

Like how the Heartless swelled up to rebel against their human captors.

Like when Heartless began using their dark magic to convert the computers on gummi ships to sail to new worlds.

And how Derox, Exelle, and Frost left me behind.

Everything happened so fast.

I remember floating silently out of my cell and heading up the stairs. I nearly shriveled before the sunlight.

I saw thousands of screaming people try to escape from the wrath of midnight monsters. Some were killed. Some found their way to gummi ships. Some were turned into Heartless.

I remember seeing a few people fight back.

There were two boys and two girls. The boys; one blonde and one with dark locks, were similar in age and fought with giant swords that looked too lethal for me to get near. And a girl with little shiny silver things that stung if you got hit by one. She looked like she was having fun throwing them, so I used the edge of my dress to try and scrape it up off the ground. It didn't work.

The last girl was very pretty. She had long brown hair held up in a pink ribbon and big green eyes. She didn't fight. She merely cowered behind the blonde boy and sometimes threw them a bottle that would make them feel better.

I realized that these people were just like my former friends and I.

Derox was very angry and hostile. His fighting style was similar to the blonde boy.

Frost was calm and collected. His essence was brought to life in the stoic, pale boy.

The girl who threw shiny things reminded me of Exelle, with her high energy and constant movement.

I saw myself in the last girl. I always let the others fight their battles, helping them when they needed it from the sidelines.

I floated over to her, wanting to tell her that she was just like me.

But instead of smiling at the sight of me, she screamed, "Cloud! It's coming to get me! HELP!"

I was startled at her reaction and by the sudden impact of the boy's empty fist into my side. I ricocheted off his arm into a wall.

The four quickly scrambled into a gummi ship with a blonde man smoking at the wheel. The door closed and they left as fast as they could.

I saw the girl watching me as I slowly hovered to my normal height to watch them shoot off into the stars.

**(xxx)**

There were no more people left when I searched the castle. There were hardly any Heartless left too.

I remember floating by the fountain, listening to the soothing sounds of trickling water.

It reminded me of human feelings. A human body. My life before the Heartless.

And that was when I burst.

I began to wail.

Heartless can't cry because they don't have any water in their bodies. They are only made up of darkness. But that didn't mean I couldn't scream. I had a lot to scream about.

I had been turned into a Heartless. My friends had left me. People were terrified of me. No one remembered me. I was left all alone.

I let out an ear-piercing shriek.

"My dear, what are you doing by yourself?"

I immediately silenced.

The raspy voice sent a chill down my spine. It was thick and deep and eloquent but at the same time frightening and powerful.

I turned with a snivel.

A woman stood before me.

She was tall. Everything was lean about her. She wore a black dragon horn headdress and long, black and violet robes.

Her skin was a sickly shade of green, but she pretty none the less. She had high cheekbones and a slim face. Her eyes were malicious and held a venomous quality, like a snake's. She wore a violet color of make-up on her eyelids and lips. Her chin was kept up to prove her refined posture.

I was intrigued by her. I slowly inched closer with wide yellow eyes.

She placed a scaly hand on my cool, smooth, metal and drummed her long fingernails against my side.

I blinked and asked, my voice high and squeaky in comparison to hers, "Who are you?"

She smiled, revealing perfectly white teeth. I half expected them to be pointed.

"My name is Maleficent."


	4. Chapter 3

**The Requiem**

Maleficent taught me everything I know about my powers. She showed me how to harness it and use it to its fullest potential. She also showed me how to use it against my enemies.

Many people will say that Maleficent is a cold-blooded witch with nothing but evil intentions.

I can believe part of that.

But not all.

She may call herself the 'Mistress of All Evil' and plan to take over worlds, but she is also misunderstood.

She told me that everything started because she wasn't invited to a party. She was the only person NOT invited.

Maleficent also told me why she came to Hollow Bastion.

"A man in a dark hood came to me one night. He told me of strange creatures with treacherous powers that were born from darkness. He called them Heartless. I was curious about these creatures, and he informed me that they only had one goal in mind: to find hearts. The man then informed me of what he believed they were truly searching for."

"What was it?" I asked eagerly.

"Kingdom Hearts."

"Kingdom Hearts?" I murmured confusedly. "I've never heard of that. I don't think I'm searching for it either."

But I suppose that was because my original heart was in my body.

Maleficent said I was a special case when it came to Heartless.

I wasn't born from the darkness in my heart. My heart had come from light. I didn't feel like other Heartless.

She said we were very similar.

Both of us appeared to be evil and cruel and frightening and from darkness, but all we really wanted was acceptance.

I really liked that part of Maleficent.

**(xxx)**

I probably spent years training with Maleficent before I saw any other Heartless.

By then, I had settled comfortably into a routine of training in the arts of magic and healing, sleeping, storing energy, and trying to learn how to swim.

One evening on a day Maleficent had declared no training, I made my way down to the dungeons.

I don't know why I went.

I just did.

What I found was not the dripping, eerie, darkness I was accustomed to seeing.

Thousands upon thousands of Heartless were stirring restlessly in their crowded cages. Some looked familiar, but most were unknown and scary. They were all screaming and howling and roaring from anxiety.

When I floated in, all quieted.

I surveyed the surroundings.

"Rexen?"

I blinked. "Yes?"

A group of Heartless identical to Derox caught my eye.

"Are you Rexen?"

One floated up to the bars.

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"I met Derox. He wants to know why you aren't fighting with everyone else."

My eyes widened. They were all fighting?

"Why are they fighting in the first place?"

"He's looking for something."

"Kingdom Hearts?"

"Yes, I think that's what he called it. That's where your heart goes after you've been destroyed."

"Destroyed?" I cried with wide eyes. "Why would someone be destroyed?"

He glanced around uneasily before whispering, "The Keyblade."

Every Heartless began shrieking and making as much noise of protest as possible.

I cringed.

"What's the Keyblade?"

All hushed again.

The Derox-look-alike said in a hushed tone, "The Keyblade is a monstrous weapon that locks away the hearts of worlds from us and releases the hearts in our bodies, sending them to Kingdom Hearts."

"Can you imagine how many hearts are stored in Kingdom Hearts?" another look-alike piped up.

I left them consulting each other as fast as I could.

I had to talk to Maleficent.


	5. Chapter 4

Maleficent decided to take me out to my first new world.

She thought that after my experience with the other Heartless, it was time I put my fighting skills to use.

We appeared in a world with a pitch black sky and neon lights everywhere. And the stars. I saw my first stars there.

Maleficent said to ignore the stars. They were just other worlds with light reflecting off of them. She took me along, but I still couldn't help but look.

She said it was a world called Traverse Town.

I didn't see how it was a town. There was no one there.

Except for a boy.

He was standing by a bright yellow fountain with a romantic picture of two-dimensional dogs lit up. He had pale skin, silver hair and icy turquoise eyes. He was tall and muscular and had a very athletic look about him. At first, I almost mistook him for a girl, he was so pretty.

Maleficent didn't seem at all shocked.

She simply walked up and began to speak with him.

I didn't bother paying attention.

I wanted to look at the stars.

After a moment or two, Maleficent sent me to the other side of two very large and heavy doors. "Use your magic to teleport you to the other side. I think you might like what you find," she said.

"Why?" I asked. "What is it?"

She gave me a haughty smile. "You ask too many questions, Rexen."

I pouted, but moved on. I knew better than to make her lose her patience with me.

Concentrating my magic, darkness surrounded me.

I disappeared.

I appeared with a morphing sound on the other side of the doors.

To avoid any instant danger, I instinctly reached a higher altitude.

There was a boy there, (I was sure he was a boy this time), who was picking up large gold pieces from the ground. He had spiky brown hair and bright blue eyes. He was shorter than the other boy, but still muscular, in a lean way.

He had two companions.

One was lanky and tall. He was a dog with long black skinny ears and a green and yellow outfit. He had a slower, more laid back way of movement, like he was in no hurry to get anywhere.

The other was a white duck with a big yellow beak and floppy yellow webbed feet. He was incredibly short and wore a blue outfit with a matching blue hat. He had a pretty staff in his hand (wing?). The duck seemed on edge and nervous. He was funny.

I giggled quietly.

The boy suddenly looked up at me and pointed.

"Oh great, we missed one!" he said.

The duck instantly raised his staff and called out in a language I didn't understand. A lightning bolt appeared over my head to come down and shock me.

I wasn't worried.

The lightning bolt went right through me.

"Well, I'd hafta think that magic doesn't work on that there Heartless," the dog said.

I sunk a little lower to investigate these creatures.

A large key appeared in the boy's hand with a flash of light and he jumped. He brought the blade over his head to smash it down on me.

_Ouch!_

I stumbled back in midair, confused by the pain.

I'd never felt anything like it before.

It…hurt!

"Stop!" I called out. "You're hurting me!"

He didn't seem to hear me.

I then realized what the key was.

The Keyblade.

Suddenly, black orbs appeared as more Heartless morphed in to the battle. I recognized them. They looked like my cell mates from the dungeons of Hollow Bastion!

There were blurs of red, yellow, and blue. Magic erupted from them in attacks.

Fat warriors and small warriors and winged warriors and shadows appeared too.

All advanced on the three.

A Heartless identical to Derox yelled, "Rexen get up! Heal us!"

My elevation went higher. I shook my hips to heal the wounded Heartless. A tinkling sound emitted.

"You've got to be kidding me!" the boy cried. "It heals things?"

He lashed out at a small, bumbling soldier. The soldier disintegrated and a sparkling gem of a heart was released into the air before disappearing.

The heart was sent to Kingdom Hearts.

I couldn't stand it any longer.

Amidst all of the fighting and attacking and the dying, no one noticed me disappear.

**(xxx) **

"Why did he do that?" I asked Maleficent when we were back in the safety of Hollow Bastion.

I was hovering over her lap while she sat on a comfortable chair in our recreational room. She had her palms on my forehead, curing any internal injuries I had.

Maleficent held her poise even while sitting. She glanced out the window to the setting sun.

"My child, I must tell you something."

I looked up at her with wide eyes, patiently waiting for her to go on.

She glanced down at me, her shoulders still rolled back and her chin parallel to the floor.

I thought she was one of the most beautiful people in the world.

"I knew that boy was on the other side of the door."

"Then why did you send me over there?" I asked in disbelief.

She sighed, and for the first time I saw that she regretted her decision.

"The boy's name is Sora. He was chosen to be the Keyblade master; chosen to destroy the Heartless. His friends are a kings' lackeys. This king is a bad king. He wants to rid the world of all who are misunderstood."

I gasped. "He wants to kill me?"

She nodded. "Yes my dear. His name is King Mickey. He is guiding Sora on his quest; therefore Sora wants to get rid of you."

It made me sad.

"I don't want to be gotten rid of!"

"That's good," she smiled.

"Very good."


	6. Chapter 5

They were a group trying to thwart the plans of this King Mickey and his Keyblade wielder.

Maleficent introduced me to them.

They were all in a dark room with a table in the center that glowed and could show you anything you desired to see.

The first I met was a man named Jafar. He was very tall and very thin, with a wimpy little beard and really long fingers that were wrapped around a staff with a snakehead that had glowing, jewel red eyes. He had a big puffy hat that I bounced off of several times before Jafar threatened me with some words I didn't understand. Maleficent calmly intervened, humored by my ideas of fun.

There was only one lady there. Her name was Ursula. Her skin had a lavender quality and her hair was white. She was very plump and had long fat tentacles. I was thrilled by her tentacles; I didn't know what they were until she told me. I counted them. There were eight. She wrapped me up in a few of her tentacles and tossed me around a little. I was delighted. I laughed and laughed. I think she liked me better than Jafar did.

After Maleficent had settled me down, I met a real live pirate captain. He told me in a funny accent that his name was Captain James Hook. He had thick dark hair that was kept under a red hat with a big white feather that tickled when I went to touch it on my face. He seemed very angry and hissed to Maleficent that he didn't like children; the last one he met had sawed off his hand and fed it to a crocodile.

The next was a real smooth talker. He had blue skin and blue hair that was fire! I was amazed and watched it burn with wide eyes. He laughed and said, "Hey kid I hope you like fire!" He then put his hand underneath me and a fire blazed. I giggled and said magic didn't work on me. He told me his name was, (I quote), 'Hades, Lord of the Dead.' He was a god on his planet.

The last was simply a burlap bag with eyes and a mouth that was shaped sort of like a star. He was sewn crudely together and laughed manically too much. I didn't like him. I hid behind Maleficent when she spoke to him. He reached for me and I whimpered. When he told me his name, a bug crawled out of his mouth. I did not like this Oogie Boogie.

Maleficent then told me that the adults were going to have a meeting and said to wait outside. I obliged to her request.

I waited for their meeting to be done. I practiced my magic and hovering above the ground for about thirty minutes. Then I waited some more.

About two hours into my waiting, the boy I had seen in Traverse Town walked up.

I blinked up at him.

"Who are you?" I asked curiously.

He looked down at me like he wasn't sure I had just spoken. His confusion soon turned into a piercing gaze that made me nervous.

"Riku," he said.

I had a tendency that whenever I became nervous, I would fly higher. It was a defense mechanism especially useful in battle, and it soon turned into a habit.

I rose to Riku's eye level. His eyes never left me.

Smiling, I said, "Hello Riku! I'm Rexen!" I remembered all of my good manners.

I had never seen a creature like him this close before. I began orbiting him, observing this strange boy.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

I paused before I replied, "Looking at you. I don't know what you are."

"I'm a human," he said.

I gasped. "I used to be a human!" I cried, thrilled that we had something in common.

His icy gaze pinpointed on me. "What?"

"I used to be human," I said with less enthusiasm.

He raised a perfect silver eyebrow. "How can you 'used to be human'?"

"King Ansem ripped apart my old body and put me in this new one."

Riku cringed at my description.

"Is that why you can talk?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I've never met a Heartless that can talk."

I smiled. "You're so silly! All Heartless can talk! People just don't listen enough to be able to hear them. Actually, they can only talk with their kind…But I can hear them!"

He seemed frustrated.

"I've never met a Heartless that can talk to people."

I blinked. I didn't understand what he was asking me. Couldn't he hear the other Heartless too?

Then I began to wonder what he was doing here in the first place. I voiced my opinion.

He was quiet for a moment.

"I'm looking for someone," he told me.

"Who?"

"A friend."

"I had friends! Their names are Derox, Exelle, and Frost! But they left me to go find Kingdom Hearts, and then they got destroyed by the Keyblade Master Sora and their hearts were sent to Kingdom Hearts."

He looked at me funny.

"You met Sora?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but I didn't like him very much. He hit me on the head with the Keyblade and I got hurt. But then I poofed back to Maleficent and she made me all better!"

He was silent, taking in all I said. After a while he made the comment, "You sure do like to talk a lot."

I giggled. "Maleficent doesn't like me talking when we're training, and she's the only friend I have. I've never talked this much in my life!"

"Maleficent's your friend?"

"Well of course she is! You're silly Riku! She came and found me when everybody left to go find other worlds and Kingdom Hearts, and she stayed with me and trained me."

I really don't think he understood a word I said.

"What's this Kingdom Hearts you keep talking about?"

Before I could explain my brief knowledge on the subject, Maleficent slid the door open and gracefully walked out. "Come Rexen; it's time for your training."

I obediently followed her, leaving Riku's question unanswered.

"Goodbye Riku!"

**(xxx)**

That wouldn't be the last time I saw Riku.

He was slowly taking my place as Maleficent's apprentice, although I didn't know it at the time.

She would teach him the ways of darkness. I became jealous, because I never learned anything on darkness. Only light.

Now that I look back on it, I realize that Maleficent channeled different aspects of her life into her teachings.

She taught me white magic to ease the pain and guilt of things she'd done; to make her feel like a better person inside.

She taught Riku dark magic to try and understand it herself. That was when she became interested in other Heartless besides me and the darkness they possessed.

I was upset.

Maleficent and I had normally been the only people in Hollow Bastion, but now power-hungry creatures were invading our privacy to meet their own goals, which they thought Maleficent would help with.

I had grown accustomed to her constant attention. It was the most attention I had ever received in my life.

Riku was my friend and all, but what right did he have to come barging in on one of the few good relationships I had and screw it all up?

My jealousy led me to a very important time in my life.

Because I was so upset, I hopped aboard a gummi ship to see if anyone would care that I was gone and headed to the only other world I knew: Traverse Town.

It turns out Sora the Keyblade Master was there at the same time.

The moment I morphed out of the gummi ship and into the third district, my eyes were met with a large silver blade.

That was the last thing I saw.


	7. Chapter 6

I don't remember much after that.

All I felt was freedom.

Complete, utter freedom.

Pure, sweet air pushing against and flapping around my heart.

My heart had been released from my body.

I couldn't see anything, but I knew that I was soaring towards the starry sky. Away towards the sky.

I don't know why I was so scared of the Keyblade before.

This feeling was unbelievable.

I started remembering things at that time. I don't know why. They just sort of appeared. It's like they say how your life flashes before your eyes.

I remembered Ansem.

I remembered Derox and Exelle and Frost.

I remembered the other Heartless.

I remembered the people at Hollow Bastion.

I remembered meeting Maleficent.

I remembered her friends.

I remembered Sora.

I remembered Riku.

There was something that bothered me though.

All these things that I remembered…they were all Rexen's memories.

They weren't mine.

Why couldn't I remember my life before?

My name wasn't supposed to be Rexen.

That was only a nickname.

I wasn't always a Green Requiem.

I had a life before that.

But what was it?

Who was I?

I felt hands close around on my heart.

"I promised myself I would not become attached to you, but it appears I cannot change that now."

**(Maleficent's POV)**

I could not imagine how I had become so close to this Heartless. Why I had the notion to save this girl from her fate was beyond my comprehension.

But that was what my heart told me to do.

I saved Rexen.

When I returned to Hollow Bastion with a heart in my hands, both Riku and my cohorts were filled to the brim with curiosity.

"What is it?" Riku asked.

"A heart," I coldly replied, for my patience was not at its highest.

I had a job to do.

I shoved everyone out of my way, but beckoned for Riku to follow behind.

He came with speed.

"We must act quickly if we are to be able to save Rexen," I told him upon reaching my main magic room.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "That's Rexen's heart?"

I gave him a serious look. I could already feel the heart's invisible ties to its destination tugging. We didn't have much time.

"It is indeed Rexen's heart. Now, before we do anything else, I need you to imagine a female body," I told him as I readied my largest potions cauldron and some various ingredients.

Humans can never understand the simplest requests. "Huh?" he asked.

I narrowed my eyes. "A human female body. Is that so hard to comprehend?" I began to raise my voice. I didn't have time for his stupid questions.

"You mean like, a naked girl?"

"Yes, you imbecile! Now do it!" I cried, flames spouting from my feet to lick his face. He stepped back in fear, but did as he was told.

I finished putting in all of the ingredients to the spell and started hurriedly chanting.

_Umo maki heiti shii toui reyu toy ne hert le le ree. Umo maki heiti shii toui reyu toy ne hert le le ree. _

I closed my eyes and dropped the heart into the bubbling cauldron.

It hissed, and steam billowed everywhere.

I gasped, clutched my heart, opening my eyes, and chanted again:

_Umo maki heiti shii toui reyu toy ne hert le le ree. Umo maki heiti shii toui reyu toy ne hert le le ree. _

And with a flash of green light, it was all done.

Riku coughed as the smoke cleared.

I eagerly peered to catch a glimpse of the finished product.

I cried out with laughter.

It was a success.


	8. Chapter 7

**(Maleficent's POV)**

There she was.

Rexen was a human.

Everything about her body, down to the last eyelash, was long and thin; any curve her body had was slight. Her fingers were almost abnormally long. Her hair was an auburn brown ocean; thick and wavy. She was tall

After I had regained my composure, I turned to thank Riku.

He was staring in wide-eyed fascination at what he had helped create. I lightly slapped the bottom of his chin.

"Stop gawking," I said sharply. "It isn't becoming."

He bit his lip for a moment in thought before he said anything.

"That's Rexen?" he asked softly.

I nodded. "Yes. However, her heart needs to recover from the strain of being put into a new body, so I would suggest leaving her alone for a few days."

He slowly nodded as well, somewhat dazed.

**(Rexen's POV)**

Anyone who has ever had a physical change in their body knows what it feels like to wake up and just feel.

Everything _feels_.

I felt eyelashes fluttering against soft fragile skin. I felt joints and fingers and toes and legs and arms and hands...I felt teeth and hair and a pulse.

I felt a rotten taste in my mouth.

I felt saliva and nails and bones that were sore from lying in the same position for a long time. I felt a cold metal table underneath me. I felt a breeze that flew up into an opening by my legs. I felt goosebumps and hairs rising to fight the cold.

I felt my eyes focusing on light to create color pigments that form pictures. I felt my stomach grinding together to make noises against my skin. I felt my hair, tangled and growing, itch my shoulders and chest.

It's difficult to describe such a feeling. Everything just...feels. Its awkward and antsy and exciting and painful all mixed into one.

I opened my eyes and breathed.

I was human.

No longer was I a Heartless! I could be normal! I could live among others! I didn't have to be associated with evil!

And then, like getting hit with a brick, I was hit with gravity.

I had slid my legs to the side of wherever I was. I tried to stand up, but after not having been able to balance on toes and heels and feet for years, I completely fell face forward.

I let out a noise. "Oof!"

I felt vibrations radiating off of my vocal chords.

I suppose that as a Heartless, any noise you make is reflected and intensified from your mind at a high frequency, causing no one other than those with your same frequency to understand you. My frequency was just understood by everybody, and since I had already been human, I knew how to read other creatures' frequencies.

A door opened somewhere in the room. I could hear the vibrations heading to my ears, where the sound was calculated to what I thought it was.

"Rexen?" a soft voice called.

I looked up from my embarrassing position. "Leho?" No wait. That wasn't right. "H-hello?" I sputtered.

Quiet footsteps echoed across the room.

Riku appeared in my line of vision, apparently very flustered. His face was red and his hairline was matted with sweat.

"Riku?" I called, trying to control my volume.

He bit the inner part of his lip.

"Help?" I croaked.

He walked over to me in a woozy manner and reached daintily under my arms to help me to my feet. I felt sharp pain as he fought against gravity to pull me up.

"Ouch," I cringed, my face scrunching up to convey my pain. "You're hurting me."

He shifted his hands awkwardly to my back, letting his arms rest under mine. Quickly, he heaved me onto my makeshift bed, I suppose it could be called, and turned away.

I suddenly felt very weary and lay back down. I still had to adjust to the feel of a new body.

"Riku," I murmured before he left hurriedly. "Why do you seem so much smaller?" I asked.

He didn't reply.

The door closed softly.

I was alone.

Again.

**(xxx)**

It was about a week before I could even move by myself. I found my body constantly consuming food and disposing of waste. This was difficult without the help of Maleficent, as Riku would not dare look at me.

It took close to a month for me to learn to walk. After I had gotten it down though, I felt so triumphant and rejuvenated and exhausted and accomplished all at the same time.

Everything also felt so much smaller. Maleficent ceased to intimidate me in the manner she had formerly been able to do. Size really does matter, I guess.

One of the few downsides to being a human was that you couldn't fly and you could only do as much as your body would let you do.

My body constantly needed food and sleep. Never in my life had I felt so...needy.

Maleficent then told me about a week after I learned to walk that I couldn't continue to go about my daily life without clothes. She said it wasn't dignified and Riku wouldn't even step within 100 feet of me due to his embarrassment.

"Why is he embarrassed?" I asked.

Maleficent smirked her ever familiar haughty smile. "There comes a time in every human's life where certain hormones start appearing and thriving. He's at the stage of sexual development."

I blinked at her. "What's sexual development?"

The smirk itself seemed to be covering up embarrassment. "It is when the sexual organs develop and mature."

"What are sexual organs?"

"You have one. It's the...the...ah...the opening between your legs."

I smiled. "Oh, that thing?" I bent over to look at it. "That sure is an ugly sexual organ. What's it for?"

Maleficent coughed. She was clearly uncomfortable with the subject.

"For sexual intercourse."

"What's that?"

"It's...more commonly known as sex. It's...ah...Stop bothering me with questions! I don't have time for such foolishness!"

She hurried down the hall in a huff.

I followed her in search of clothes.

Maleficent still hadn't answered my question.

**(xxx)**

The clothes Maleficent conjured up for me were delightful and soft.

I slipped into them and pranced around her room before I landed wrong on my ankle and fell hard on my hip.

Maleficent scolded me as she helped me to my feet, saying such behavior was not acceptable for a young lady. I was no longer a Heartless, so I had no reason to be acting like a child.

After her lecture about proper behavior, she lent me a full mirror to see what I looked like.

I was very tall. No wonder everything was smaller. My legs were long. My arms were skinny, a trait that continued down to my fingers. My hair was parted deeply on the side, and I had long wavy layers of a brownish-reddish color. My face was heart-shaped and my eyes were almond-shaped. I had long, curled eyelashes. My lips were dry and pink. My eyes were a grey hue of turquoise.

The outfit Maleficent had given to me was black. It was a dress with trick straps that tied together in a knot at the base of my neck. A strap cinched underneath my chest pushed up my breasts. Another strap cinched my waist. This was to show the tightness of the stomach section of the dress and the looseness of the rest of it. From the waist to the hem line at my knees, it was flowy and billowy and fun to turn in.

I turned to Maleficent and flashed her a toothy smile.

She smiled, more regally, at me in return. She tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and left her room.

I knew that was her way of saying she was glad I was still alive.

**(xxx)**

After I became a human, everything changed.

I got my own room to sleep in.

It was a small room, with a twin sized bed propped against the window and a bright rug spread across the cold stone floor. Maleficent taught me how to sew things together, and I crudely made myself a comforter from scraps of material lying about.

I was no longer treated like a child.

Riku no longer sent me hurtling into a wall if I hovered too near him. Maleficent ceased her constant patience with me. I had to learn everything about being a human; everything from tying a knot to how to use silverware. Our magic lessons together ended. Instead they switched to finishing lessons. I asked Maleficent what we were finishing, and she told me that we were finishing my human training. Then she slapped my wrist and said it was improper to speak out when you haven't been spoken to.

Riku didn't disregard me anymore.

He never went out of his way to avoid me like he used to. He now went out of his way to see me. Riku wouldn't dare talk to me, I'm still not sure why, but would slink around to watch me go into my room, follow Maleficent, and eat. When he finally got over his embarrassment to talk to me, he would laugh at any joke I said, whether it be intelligent or weak-minded with no thought backing it up, and tell me it was good. He would talk to me a lot.

I think I would have preferred being treated like a child though when Maleficent broke the news to me.

It was a day similar to any. The sun was shining through the mist that shrouded the ground, which seeped into the castle through cracks and windows. I was running down to the dining hall to have some early-morning food when I was stopped by Maleficent.

Her face was grim.

I didn't think anything of it though. Her face was always grim.

"I have some bad news for you," she said morbidly.

I looked into her venomous eyes. They were an enigma I couldn't crack.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

She took a breath before she told me.

"It appears that we were not correct on the assumption of your human state."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

Her eyelids took an eternity to blink.

"You are not human."

I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest.

"What? Yes I am. You said so yourself."

"I was wrong."

"But you're never wrong."

She smiled weakly. "I wish what you spoke was true."

What she was saying slowly started making sense in my mind; piecing itself together like a puzzle.

"So that means...if I'm not human..."

"Yes, my dear."

"How do you know?"

"The symbol has appeared on your back."

She showed me through a double mirror.

She was right.

Across my open back was a large black heart, outlined and squiggled on.

I couldn't say anything.

My mouth opened and closed.

My throat grew tight and it burned.

It became hard to breathe without making a wheezing sound.

My eyes grew warm and wet.

Everything grew hazy and my knees gave out.

I collapsed onto the floor as I started crying.

I was still a Heartless.


	9. Chapter 8

**The Requiem**

In an inconsolable fever of grief, I fled from Maleficent and stumbled to my room, bawling.

I couldn't explain it; after all of my hopes of being human had finally been fulfilled, they were shot down. Why did all of this happen to me? I would wonder to myself. Why was I chosen? Why did I have to be that goddamn little kid that got lost?

It wasn't fair.

As I ran into my room, my foot got caught under a flap of the rug on my floor and I tripped right in front of my bed. I lay still for a moment on the floor before I sobbed harder at my pathetic situation. I sat up and sniffed excess mucus back up into the bowels of my nose.

That ugly, ugly, ugly symbol was drawn across my entire back like an enormous tattoo. It was black and red, reminding me of what I was. A Heartless.

"Why?" I cried. "Why does it have to be me?"

I woke up to find myself wondering where I was. Apparently I had fallen asleep crying and had slept for the past day and a half. I had woken up because light was flooding into my eyes. I turned over with a groan to shield my eyes from the sun.

I shot up, my hair hanging around my face in a thick ocean of tangles.

The sun?

In all of my years, I had never seen the sun. Mist usually hung around the castle and the atmosphere, making sure that the sun was blocked from our view.

And just as I had been hit with a beam of light, I was hit with a thought.

If I could find my light, just as I had found the sun's, then I could become human.

**(xxx)**

Maleficent took me to her next meeting with the other adults.

She said that the meeting would help take my mind off of my current traumatic situation.

I really didn't think what she said was right. It actually made me ponder the thought of 'Heartless-ness' more. I guess that everything she said seemed wrong, ever since my perfect image of her had been, as Riku put it, screwed over.

Riku sat next to me in the dark room.

My head was bowed and my bangs fell into my face, everything else held up with a silky black ribbon. I entwined my toes together, my bare feet pressed against the cold stone of the room. My hands were resting delicately on my lap, with one of Riku's hands on top of them.

Riku had spent a lot of time with me ever since.

We had become close.

He told me that he was looking for his friend Kairi, who had been taken away from him by Heartless. Sora had been his friend too, but Sora had replaced him with other friends. I didn't exactly understand what he was going through, and he didn't understand what I was going through, but we did our best. Just being there for one another was good enough.

The door opened, and light flooded into the room. Riku and I both looked up, squinting.

Maleficent had opened the door.

I glared at her.

I had gotten into the habit of blaming her for everything. Riku told me that was normal. He said that when you realize your guardian is wrong, you become a teenager. He said that I wasn't a kid anymore. I was a teenager.

She stared stonily back at me, but ushered in the other adults.

I bowed my head again, not interested in the attention from these people.

Captain Hook strode in confidently with a swagger. He walked right to his seat, not saying a word to me, but muttered a rough greeting to Riku. Riku ignored it.

Ursula slunk in next, letting her front tentacles pull her across the slick floor. She stopped at Riku and let a tentacle slink across his cheek. He made a disgusted face as he watched her black appendage scrape across his face. She laughed deeply and moved on to me.

"Now who's this little floozy?" she asked in her rich, salty voice.

I focused even harder on the floor, trying to ignore her remark. It didn't sound friendly. She was different from the last time I met her.

I felt a tentacle wrap around my legs up to my chest and was completely lifted into the air. One of her tentacles pulled at my hair, tilting my head back. I let out a noise of surprise.

The other adults were filtering in, but stood standing, watching in fascination. Riku stood up as well, letting his chair fall backwards behind him from the momentum of his movement.

Ursula held me at eye-level. I tried to move away, but her fat tentacle moved up to my neck and held my chin firm so that I had to look at her.

She smiled. I cringed. "What's your name?" she demanded.

"I believe you've met her before, Ursula," Maleficent calmly intervened. Maleficent strode over to us and put a hand in front of me, signaling Ursula to put me down. Her tentacle slithered away and I dropped to the floor.

Riku immediately went to my side, helping me to my feet. I stood up shakily.

Ursula's tentacle went to grab a firm hold on my chin again. She tilted my face in every direction, analyzing me.

"Oh?" she said. "I don't believe I'm familiar with her."

Hades glided in, putting a fat blue arm over my shoulders. "I would have remembered someone as HOT as her!" he said, his fiery hair billowing more with his words.

I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes, Ursula's hold still on my chin.

I felt a bug crawl up my arm. The hair on the back of my neck and arms rose up. Oogie Boogie laughed.

I felt someone trace the symbol on my back, their fingers hovering at the spot just above my backside.

"She seems to be a Heartless," Jafar hissed into my ear.

"My dear, welcome to our group," Captain Hook's voice curled as I felt his hand smooth across my head.

They all laughed.

I stood in the center of all of these people, being pulled and poked and prodded all over. My eyes were going everywhere. I was so confused. I had never seen these people act like this before. "Riku?" I called out, frightened. A hand followed the curve of my hip.

When someone's hand pressed against my chest, I saw Riku begin to rush over to me, but Maleficent stopped him.

"Everyone, please, return to your seats so we can begin the discussion."

They all slid away from me to sit down. I nearly collapsed from all the fresh air that rushed at me, but Riku ran up to me and caught me. "You ok, Rex?" he whispered. I nodded, my eyes wide. I was clearly not.

Maleficent continued her speech as Riku checked to see if I was alright.

"As you have seen, I have decided to include a new member."

Riku led me to my seat. I shakily sat down, my head bent over still. I had seen their eyes watching me. Riku held my hand tightly. I clutched on to his hand, afraid that if I let go, they would all touch me again.

"You have all met her before, although it has been a while. She is my Heartless apprentice, Rexen."

They all had different reactions.

"You mean that little green thing?"

"She's that annoying little creature?"

"What happened?"

"When'd she get so hot?"

"But I thought Heartless always stayed the way they were!"

I felt like crying. I desperately wanted to run into my room and hide.

"Yes, well," Maleficent said. "We must move on. You see, Sora is on the move again..."

**(xxx)**

I was in a foul mood after the meeting.

I hadn't paid the slightest attention to what they were all talking about; I was much more focused on the little spider that kept scurrying near me every time I looked away from it. I actually tried stepping on it a few times, but it was too fast for my gawky, non-human feet. I knew it was one of Oogie Boogie's bugs because it was shaped unlike any bug I'd ever seen. I put my nose up at him. Dirt bag. (Quite literally, don't you think?)

But after the meeting, I slunk out as quickly as possible and fled to the only place I knew no one would bother me.

The library.

I entered from the upstairs and gathered some books in my hands.

I was so depressed.

Plunking the books down on a small table in front of me, I sat in a chair and opened one of the books.

It was a tale about a beautiful young princess who had been kidnapped from her home at a young age and was locked away in a tower with no doors and no windows. Her hair grew very long and---

I shut the book.

Reading about forever-beautiful women being saved by handsome princes or knights or whatever was not going to help me feel better. It was going to make me feel worse.

It turns out all of the books ended up being close to identical to the princess-in-the-tower book. One was a princess who had an evil stepmother who tried to get her killed, but ended up dying herself in an attempt to make her daughter sleep forever. Another had a girl with an evil stepmother and two evil stepsisters, but she became the belle of the ball with her fairy godmother's help. Another was of a princess who was cursed by an evil witch into sleeping for one hundred years. They all ended up being saved or married to a handsome prince. I was so fed up; I knocked all the books off the desk and stormed off to somewhere else.

I wasn't paying a bit of attention to where I was going.

About an hour later, I realized that while I had been walking, I had ventured to a part of the castle I'd never been to.

I studied my surroundings.

I was in a dark hallway lit by a few ghostly candles. Underneath my feet was a padded red carpet. It was so soft; I could feel my feet sinking into it with each step I took. On either side of me, doors stretched to the end of the hallway, which I couldn't see. There were no windows, and the walls were a deep black.

The doors caught my interest. They appeared every few feet, meaning a room was hidden away inside. The doors were a deep mahogany and were made of very thick, very heavy wood. The doorknobs were the brightest things in the hall, gleaming a pretty silver.

I tried to open one of the doors.

It was locked.

I pouted. This was a bit of a downer. No matter, I thought to myself. With a morphing noise and some black smoke, I disappeared from the hallway and into the room.

I smiled bitterly.

My powers still worked.

That proved I was a Heartless.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the room was a girl.

She stood out in comparison with her richly, deeply colored surroundings. Her hair was a bright blonde, held back by a black ribbon, and she wore a bright blue dress with a white apron over it. She wore white tights and had black shoes on.

We stared at each other for a moment.

She seemed very shocked that I had just appeared, and giving the manner I had appeared, seemed rather frightened.

I was surprised she was even in there. What was she doing in the castle?

The girl spoke first. "Hello?" she asked me nervously with an accent similar to Captain Hook's.

I blinked. "Hello..." This was a bit odd. My curiosity got the better of me. "Who are you?"

The girl smiled and did a weird thing with her dress. She bowed a little, but sank on her knees as well. She brought her skirt out. "My name is Alice," she said.

I didn't bow like she did. "I'm Rexen."

She cocked her head a little. "How very curious..." she muttered.

"What?" I asked, having not heard her very well. "What's curious?"

"Well," she said matter-of-factly, "I find it curious that you are one of them, but you look just as a sensible person would."

"One of who?" I asked.

"One of the creatures that took me away into the shadows."


	10. Chapter 9

_Rexen walked along a glossy tiled floor. _

_The tile was smooth and white. There were lights above her head, but they didn't reflect off of the floor. The walls were smooth and white as well. Everything was white, except for Rexen._

_It was strange._

_I was still myself, but I could see me. _

_Rexen wasn't walking toward me; I seemed to move effortlessly with her. _

_But it appeared the only thing I could see on her was the black heart. _

_It was even uglier than I had remembered it. _

_It took up her entire back, flowing with every curve her body made. It was a monstrous black heart, contained and entwined with red strips and bloody thorns. _

_I hated it._

_There was nothing more I hated than that venomous symbol that controlled and ruined my life._

_I HATED IT HATED IT HATED IT HATED IT HATED IT HATED IT HATED IT HATED IT._

_Rexen continued walking. _

_Her bare feet padded quietly on the tile floor. _

_I had never noticed how I never liked to wear shoes. Maleficent had tried to persuade me into a pair of black shoes once, but it proved to be unsuccessful. Shoes were much to confining; I preferred to feel the world around me as I moved. _

_Rexen suddenly stopped. I stopped with her. _

_The floor beneath her disappeared, and as the white parts around her eyes immediately grew wide with fear and surprise, gravity pulled her down. Before she could scream, she fell into darkness._

_It seemed that I fell with her. _

_I must admit that it was rather odd to see her fall. Even though she was going down, her hair was going up and so was her dress. I got a good look of her thighs and legs. _

_She soon landed uncomfortably on solid ground; with a jolt of reality I stopped. _

_Rexen looked down at the ground, her bangs and hair falling into and framing her face. Her palms were pressed on the cool rock floor and she appeared to be using all of her strength to hold herself up. _

_She looked up suddenly with panic on her face. She pulled her body up and ran, but was soon closed in by thick, metal bars. She tried to shake them, but they seemed as solid as Hollow Bastion. _

_She pressed her forehead against the bars in despair. _

"_Now now, my dear, we'll have none of that," came a deep, booming voice. _

_Rexen and I both looked up._

_She shuffled backwards quickly and looked up. There was a hole in the floor from where she fell, and the light faded softly into the black room. I couldn't see anything but darkness and the small pool of light that Rexen stood in. And the cage that held her._

_Six cloaked figures appeared from the darkness. Even though they stood in darkness, I could see them perfectly. _

_One raised an arm, and tubes and needles immediately shot into Rexen's body. She screamed and they all pulled down their hoods. _

"_Come, little Heartless, it doesn't hurt that bad. Wouldn't you rather feel pain than nothing at all?"_

_I felt myself scream when I saw their faces._

"Rexen? Rexen, are you alright? Rexen, wake up?"

I felt small hands shake my shoulders.

"Huh?" I felt the sound come from my voice box.

The room was blurred and there was an awful taste in my mouth. My limbs felt weak and my head buzzed.

Alice helped me sit up groggily.

It had become a little habit of mine to spend my afternoons avoiding everyone in the castle and instead use my time wisely with Alice.

That very first time we met, Alice and I became immediate friends.

She told me about her home world, a very wonderful-sounding place called Wonderland. It was full of smiling, riddle-loving cats, moving card-deck soldiers, a funny little time-obsessed white rabbit, a room that took you all over the place, never-ending tea parties, and a daunting forest. She had to explain everything to me in astronomical detail, because I had never heard of half the things. I had seen pictures of forests and cats in some of the books in the library, but the others I had to have Alice help me guide my imagination to grasp the concepts.

I hadn't mentioned everything about myself. I merely skimmed the details of my existence here at Hollow Bastion. I couldn't explain it, but I just felt inside that it would not be a good idea to tell her the horrific details of my past. Now that I look back on it, it was a very wise decision on my part.

As of late, I had been bringing in books and food for Alice. Although she never said anything about being hungry, her stomach always gave her away when it grumbled and moaned against nothing, making the whole room gurgle.

I brought the princess books and other romantic tales of fancy for Alice because that was what she liked best. I once made the mistake of bringing a book called _Dracula_, and Alice turned it away immediately upon reading the title.

I, who had never turned away a book in my life, was curious as to why it was discarded like a piece of trash. I asked Alice why, and she promptly told me such books were not allowed in her hands. I took up the task of reading the book to find out what was wrong with it.

Then the nightmares started.

They began innocently enough. I would see myself.

And the heart. The Heartless symbol was always there. It was a dominant factor.

Another dominant factor was a young man. He was faceless, hairless, and clad only in a lab coat. I knew he was young by the way the skin on his hands looked and felt. I would always walk up to him in the shadow of a Heartless sun, where nothing was bright. Everything was pitch black. We could see each other perfectly though, our silhouettes prominent by some nonexistent light. He would touch my face softly and whisper from his heart: "I'm sorry." Then he ripped into two separate beings and both attacked me.

That was the first dream.

In more current dreams I was always staring at a beautiful young woman. She was naked and asleep in a glass cage. I would never try to wake her up, but someone else would. It was another girl. She had no face or hair either, but I remember she wore white. Upon failing to resurrect the beautiful lady, the faceless being would turn to me and whisper softly in a terrifying manner, "It's not your fault. This world was bound to fall apart eventually. Besides, it's not like it can bother me. I can't feel, remember?"

And then, I had the new one.

It scared me so much because instead of being faceless and foreign to me, I had recognized them. But for the life of me, I couldn't place who they were or how I knew them.

As I groggily gathered up the visual display of my surroundings, Alice smiled slightly. I still had the book draped haphazardly across my chest and my hair was extremely disheveled. My heart was still beating in my mouth, trying to soothe itself back to its original cavity in my chest. "Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

I nodded, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and standing up to stretch and yawn. _Dracula _fell to the floor. The place I had been saving was lost.

Alice glanced briefly at the book. "You know, the reason my mother forbade me from reading that book was that it is so scary. I think you should stop reading it. You've been having nightmares ever since you started."

I nodded again, numbly this time, and I looked down at the book.

It simply lay there, guiltily glaring up at me in a state of perfect innocence.

"I think you're right, Alice."

**(xxx)**

I had been lying on my bed in my small room, thinking about what Alice had told me, when Riku came to get me.

"Hey Rexen," he said softly, his calm voice slightly muffled as it came through from the other side of the door. "Maleficent called up a meeting and she wants us there."

"I'm coming," I mumbled tiredly. As silly as it may sound, I was slightly worn out from thinking. I felt a small headache coming on. I opened the door and we both started walking towards the meeting area.

He took a glimpse at me and smiled slightly. "Have you been sleeping all afternoon?"

"Not exactly," I said more quietly than I intended. "I was reading with someone."

Riku shot me a glance of curiosity. "Who?"

"A girl named Alice."

I looked back and noticed Riku had stopped walking. "Riku? What's wrong?"

For some reason, he looked just a shot below horrified.

"Riku?"

I started walking toward him, when he suddenly wrapped his big hands around my forearms and shoved me into a wall, his vice-like grip never faltering.

"Riku? What are you doing?" He was starting to scare me. I squirmed slightly, not able to go anywhere. My back hurt, and I could feel bruises forming on my arms. "Ow, you're hurting me."

"Rexen," he whispered to me in a tone I had never heard his voice reach. He had never sounded so serious. "You need to listen to me."

I whispered back, my voice full of fear and pain, "I'm listening."

"You must never tell anyone that you met Alice."

"Not even Maleficent?"

"Especially not Maleficent. You must never speak of her. You must stop going to see her. Do I make myself clear?"

"Why?" I asked timidly, in a voice so soft you could hardly hear it.

"Because I said so!"

His loud voice echoed down the hall in terrifying manner. I could feel tears falling down my face as I closed my eyes and tried to turn away from him.

After the echoes quieted, he seemed to suddenly realize what he had done. He let go of my arms with shaking hands. I immediately sank, my knees falling to hit the carpet as I continued to cry quietly.

I felt his arms wrap around me as he slowly rocked back and forth. "Oh Rexen," he murmured, the sound waves reverberating off of his vocal chord and against my body, "I'm so sorry, I'm so very sorry."

"Please, you have to understand," he whispered. "She is part of a project for Maleficent and I don't want you dragged into it. Please," he begged me. "Don't go see her again. It's for the best. I'm sorry, Rexen."

The way he treated me that day should have alerted my internal warning bells. I simply overlooked what my heart was telling me, observing that he was just scared of what Maleficent would do. I was also too confused with the Alice business. I had no idea that that was the beginning of his new, dangerous, volatile behavior.

**(xxx)**

My eyes were red and puffy and my throat still burned as I sat in the stone meeting chamber. Riku sat next to me, but I intently avoided his gaze. I sniffled.

"So nice of you to join us, Rexen," Maleficent said. "You have just missed the bulk of our meeting."

I barely glanced at her with my tear-stained eyes as the other members laughed. Riku remained silent.

"I'm sorry, Maleficent," I croaked. Some of the other adults still cackled.

"Now, on to final business," she immediately jumped to the subject. "As you know, we have already collected three of the Seven Princesses of Heart." Maleficent summoned three small images to her floating rock.

Riku's hand reached over to clench mine. My eyes widened painfully.

They were showing three girls. One of them was Alice.

Another was one of the most beautiful people I had ever seen.

She had amazing eyes. They were the color of warm chocolate that melted on your tongue and dripped down your throat. Her hair was a shiny version of her eyes, and her skin was a creamy pale. She was wearing a bright yellow dress.

The last had short, curly hair that was a black as midnight. Her skin was the palest I had ever seen on any person, and her lips were a bright, blood red. She wore a strange looking dress of blue, yellow, and red. On the back of her dress rose a white collar that flared out like a fin.

Maleficent continued on with her speech. "Jafar claims that he has found the next Princess of Heart."

Jafar looked extremely proud. I even noticed his skinny chest puff out a little.

"I will accompany Jafar to his home world to see if she really is what he claims. The rest of you, return to your home worlds. Lie low until I call the next meeting. It will be soon."

All of the adults, aside from Jafar and Maleficent, rose and began to shuffle out at their own paces.

When everyone else had left, Maleficent turned on Riku and I. His hand clenched mine harder. _Be strong, Rexen. Remember what I said._

"Now, as for you two," Maleficent said, clasping her hands and pursing her lips. "We have some...visitors. Riku, I want you to escort this man around the castle. He will be with us for some time." She motioned to a cloaked figure, who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

I practically leaped from my seat in alarm.

"Hello," the cloaked man said. His voice was haunting, but slightly familiar. I felt the nerves at the bottom of my spine shudder.

"Riku, you may leave." She waited for Riku to get up and let the strange man follow him out.

"Now Rexen," Maleficent said, returning my attention to her. "We seemed to have stumbled across a little toy that can talk. I want you to go and return it to its home world."

Again, as if from nowhere, a little boy stood next to her. He had perfectly molded black hair; a little smooth white shirt; funny little pants and suspenders that molded with his body; and silly, clunky shoes. His nose stuck out from his face like the handle of a broom.

It took me several moments to realize he was made of wood.

I wa lked over to him and Maleficent, still feeling a little wary of her.

His thin little wood shaving eyelids blinked up at me. "Hullo," he said, holding out a gloved, wooden hand. "I'm Pinocchio."

I put my hands on my knees and knelt to his eye level. I smiled. "My name is Rexen."

Maleficent suddenly grabbed at my chin and yanked my face up to meet hers.

"Stop dawdling, Rexen. You must finish this mission with haste. I'd rather you be back here with a Gummi ship in two pieces and yourself still in the body I made for you, please." She let her firm grip relax and her lips formed into an unpleasant pout. "Now go," she ordered.

I nodded, retrieving my chin from her grasp, and shepherded Pinocchio out of the room, unable to suppress a grin.

That meant that the sooner I was back here, the less she'd worry.

Pinocchio looked up at me as his solid hand gripped my soft one.

"Am I going home?" he asked.

I smiled down at him. "Yes. Now where do you live?"

His little joints, held together by thick metal nails, creaked as we walked along.

"Well, my father, our cat, and our fish were all on our way to this new world called Traverse Town. You see, we were living happily at home when all of a sudden..."

I couldn't help smiling and nodding along with what the boy had to say.

In all the years I could remember, I had never met another child. The way he talked, he spoke of things I had only read about, but felt that if I had had a normal life, I would have talked like this as well. But now, it was too late to go back. It was refreshing to be with someone who had close to the same ideals as myself.

"...I want to be a real boy!"

I looked at him. "What did you say?" I asked.

"It's what the Blue Fairy told me. She said that if I could act like a good little boy, then she would change me from being a puppet to a real boy!"

I put my hands on his shoulders and knelt to be eye level with him, smiling gently.

"Pinocchio, do you know what I want?"

"What?"

"I want to be real, too."

"But you are!" he told me with wide-eyed certainty.

I laughed a little as I shook my head 'no.' I angled my body so he could see my back. "Do you see this tattoo? It's a mark that was given to me. You see, someone made me too. I used to be a human. But they changed me. I'm not real anymore. I'm a Heartless."

He didn't say anything. His perfectly shaped dark hair gleamed from an overhead light. His narrowed eyes revealed he was deep in thought.

"So...if...you're a good Heartless..." he pieced together his logic. "Will the Blue Fairy turn you into a real girl?"

I felt the edges of my mouth tugging downward into a frown. My eyebrows furrowed together.

I bit my lip and pressed my forehead to his, pulling him into a hug.

"Yes," I whispered. "She will turn me into a real girl."

"Rexen," he mumbled softly. "Why do you look so sad? Being turned into a real girl should make you happy."

"It does Pinocchio, it does."


	11. Chapter 10

It was my third time to be in Traverse Town when I walked Pinocchio off the Gummi Ship and through the heavy, monstrous oak doors that poorly gated the world from enemies. I wondered how this world was dealing with its Heartless population.

Before we boarded the Gummi Ship, I had taken extra care to conceal my Heartless symbol; knowing that going to a world where Heartless were feared would not serve in my favor. Instead of the flighty backless black dress I wore what I thought would be in style to these Traverse Townians.

I had on a white t-shirt that ended right at my chest, short green shorts with lots of belts, and a elbow-length and knee-length black catsuit underneath the shirt and shorts. My hair was pulled up into loose, high pigtails and my feet were bare.

Pinocchio's gloved hand firmly held on to mine.

We walked past a comforting little restaurant, one that had little round tables and spindly chairs and inviting candles. Pinocchio seemed enthralled with the fire, but I was sure to keep him away from it.

It was hard work taking care of this little boy. For the first time I had to care for someone my junior—for the first time I wasn't the youngest; the center of attention. It was nice.

"Now remember, I have to leave you here." I smiled reassuringly as his face took on a distressed look. "But don't worry! You'll be safe. Nothing's going to happen to you; I promise. Your father probably got lost on the way here. You'll find him."

We walked up a few steps and into an accessory shop. The shop had a welcoming feel. There was a bright fire blazing, a few leather couches inviting someone to rest there, and a ladder descending from the ceiling that would make for great exploration expeditions.

I was glad to see that no one was there.

I set him down on a couch and handed him some extra Munny in a blue and gold container I had found in the Gummi Ship. "This will take care of you in case you get hungry," I told him.

His big blue eyes gazed up at me. "Rexen, do you have to go now?" he asked.

I nodded remorsefully. "Yes, I do. I'm sorry Pinocchio."

He looked like he was about to cry.

"Pinocchio, please don't be sad," I said as I gave him a hug. "I have to go back to Hollow Bastion. Please stay here until your father finds you."

"Ok," he mumbled into my shirt.

"Pinocchio, please don't tell anyone how you got here. Don't tell anyone about Maleficent, or Hollow Bastion, or even me. Do you understand?"

He looked up at me. "Why?"

I mussed with his hair. "Because it wouldn't be safe for you. Hollow Bastion is a dangerous place filled with dangerous people. Promise it, Pinocchio. Promise that you won't tell anyone."

"But what if I have to lie? I have to be truthful if I want to become a real boy."

"You'll be sticking to your promise, Pinocchio. Sometimes not breaking a promise is more important than not telling a lie."

"But..."

I jumped as I heard someone talking upstairs. I could hear their feet shuffling noisily across the floor and little wing beats and funny squeaks.

"Pinocchio," I said with a smile as I stood and looked back at him, "don't worry. I know you're scared. So am I. But you have to trust me...this feel like the right thing to do. You'll be fine. Just be a good boy.

I have to go now. Goodbye."

And before he could say anything else to delay me there any longer, I left.

**(xxx)**

When I got back, I was surprised to find that Maleficent had immediately called me to her chambers. From what I could tell, she seemed slightly distressed about something as she paced about her room.

I sat on her rather large bed and glanced about at my surroundings.

I had only been in her room once before, and at that time I had been more excited about clothes than her interior decoration skills.

The walls and floor; instead of the cold, dark stone that lined my room; were made of rich, elegant wood and dark, soft carpet. The feeling of the carpet tickled the soft and delicate skin between my toes. She had several tapestries hanging on the walls. Many were somewhat frightening; depicting bloody battles and horrific massacres. Her bed was as large as my room. It was the four-poster kind with linens hanging and stretched across the posts. Her sheets and comforters were far superior to the quality of mine. All in all, her room displayed quality, elegance, and everything I was not.

There was a very large, tri-fold mirror standing near a small door. As she paced, Maleficent kept glancing at herself.

I noticed for the first time that her flapping, black and purple cloak was hanging off of the mirror and not her body. It was probably the weirdest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Instead of her normal apparel she wore a long thin black dress with tight sleeves that went down to her knuckles. She had hair as well. It was black and fell to her shoulders.

I had never realized she was so skinny or that her dragon-horn headdress wasn't actually dragon horns protruding from her head.

Bringing my legs up to fold criss-cross on her bed, I asked Maleficent, "What's the matter?"

She glanced at me before resuming her pacing.

Completely ignoring my question, she said, "Did you complete your mission?"

I nodded and placed my hands at my feet, rocking back and forth a little.

"Yes. Pinocchio is in Traverse Town, waiting for his father. I told him not to tell anyone how he got there or that he met us."

She stopped walking for a moment before she sighed and collapsed into a chair that stood near her bed. "Very good. At the moment, it appears that you are the only one I can count on to do things right the first time I ask them to be done."

I cocked my head. "What happened?" Then I remembered Maleficent saying she would be going to Jafar's home world to look for a Princess of Heart. "Where's Jafar?"

Her forehead fell into her hand and she massaged her temples. "Jafar was too careless with his heart and divulged in the darkness too long. Your kind took over his heart and he was killed by the boy with the Key."

I felt a pang in my stomach. I pitied Jafar a little, but what made my insides squirm was that Maleficent referred to the Heartless as 'my kind.'

"That's too bad," I muttered quietly.

Maleficent took no notice. "On a brighter note, our suspicions were confirmed and we managed to take Princess Jasmine."

I looked up. That meant Jasmine was in the castle, probably not very far from Alice and the other two princesses I hadn't met yet.

Her head seemed heavy as she slowly raised it to stare at me. "Rexen, my dear, I have a question for you."

I blinked. "What is it?"

"Are you still able to communicate with other Heartless in your human form? I have noticed that you haven't visited the dungeons since you were informed of Kingdom Hearts. I am curious to know the outcome." Her voice seemed to be hinting at more than I understood.

"I think so. I haven't tried it in a while."

Her venomous eyes seemed skittish. "I see." She didn't say anything for a few moments.

I glanced down at my feet as I brought my hand to my mouth and nibbled at one of my fingernails. I silently noted that I should go bathe when Maleficent was done talking to me. My feet looked filthy.

"How is your magic coming along?"

My head rose up automatically. "What?" I asked.

She said, "I asked how your magic was coming along. We haven't had the chance to continue your studies."

I shrugged. "I haven't gotten to practice. I've been too busy."

I presumed it was best not to mention I'd been busy reading with Alice. Just then, a small, nagging thought popped into my head.

"Why?"

Maleficent gave me a rare smirk. "I knew why I liked you the first time I met you, Rexen. You were always willing to trust anyone, even someone as rejected and dangerous as I. You are also very intelligent for one so young. You have the ability to comprehend very difficult subjects, hidden objectives, and enigmatic emotions quickly. Your magic is quite advanced, you speak with hazardous peoples with no fear, and your past is almost as bleak as mine." Her smile faded and she stood, beginning to pace around the room again. My eyes never left her.

"What is it? You know I will do anything you say," I said.

I wish now that I had not told her that.

The thing about Maleficent is that, while I still love her for not leaving me and guiding me, at this point in time her heart was slowly falling into darkness. She was coming closer to her goal of opening the door that would let her rule Kingdom Hearts. That was what she always wanted. She strove for control. That was why she loved me too. She could control me and she knew it.

Her miniscule frown morphed into a malicious, serpentine smile. "Good," she murmured.

"I have a request for you. Ursula is having trouble summoning the Heartless to her world. I have evaluated her skills of controlling them. She is doing nothing wrong, but the Heartless have had problems going to her world because she lives underwater. I would like for you to talk to the Heartless and help her practice her summoning. Also, if you encounter trouble, I want you to use your magic to make sure the plan goes smoothly. Is that clear?"

I nodded eagerly. "Of course, Maleficent. When do I need to leave?"

"When Ursula returns in a few days for our next meeting, you will accompany her to her home world. Until then, I would highly recommend for you to get in touch with some of your kind."

She then dismissed me, leaving me out in the empty halls of our castle feeling more confused than ever.

**(xxx)**

I used all my strength to lift a giant cauldron full of water onto a hook that hung from the ceiling. There was a small stone platform in the middle of the room that was about two feet underneath it, but I had to stand on my tiptoes to heave the cauldron onto the hook.

Once that was accomplished, I closed my eyes and used my magic to bring up a flame into my palm.

I opened my eyes and smiled.

I placed the fire on the pedestal under the cauldron. I grabbed some discarded pieces of wood from the corner of the small room and fed them to the greedy fire.

Using my magic, I picked up my small bar of soap and threw it up into the air. I mumbled a spell under my breath and the soap stopped falling. It hung suspended in the air, locked in an orbit around the cauldron.

My smile widened. I hadn't lost my touch.

I jumped a little and my hands clutched the edges of the enormous metal pot and swung in the air. My arm muscles ached as I pulled myself up and clambered into the cauldron

I slowly sank into the warm water and sighed.

My legs hung out of the pot as I squirmed down to submerge my head into the water. It was a wonderful feeling. I opened my eyes and watched my hair float on small currents I made when I moved.

An ember flew up from the fire and stuck on my toe. It didn't burn.

Derox had hit me with fire once, but it had gone straight through. No pain, no blistering. It was only magic.

I wondered what had happened to their hearts.

Frost, Exelle, and Derox's hearts had all gone to Kingdom Hearts, supposedly.

But then what happened?

Did they just sit there? Or were they reincarnated into another body, or another Heartless? And what happened to their human bodies?

I knew what happened to my human body and those of the original Heartless. It was completely destroyed, ripped apart by frightening Shadow Heartless.

I was stuck in this body.

I breached the surface of the water and took a breath as I pushed my wet hair out of my face. It clung to my shoulders and back and the ends itched. I sighed and pulled my cold legs back into the warm water.

"Ursula's home world, huh?" I thought to myself. "I wonder what that's like."


	12. Chapter 11

I groaned as a soft light hit my eyes, turning over to hide my face in my pillow. My body creaked as I moved, popping into their regular positions after a long rest. I smacked my lips lightly, removing the taste of sleep and silence.

My face was soft, radiating gentle heat after a good night's sleep. My cheeks felt pink, like I had been lying in a hot place for too long. My blanket was cozy and my mattress inviting me to rest a few hours more. My hair as still damp from the bath I took the night before.

I let out a sigh and sunk into my mattress.

The morning light, through the mist, was glaring onto my bed from the small window, casting a warm, hazy atmosphere about my miniscule chamber. I snuggled deeper into my comfortable bed, with its comfortable air and comfortable familiarity; far away from frightening dreams of faceless people and the terrifying reality of Heartless and kidnapping princesses and dying grown-ups.

I shot up in my bed, suddenly wide awake.

That was right.

I had recurring nightmares of the faceless people in white I swore I could recognize.

I was still a Heartless.

Maleficent was engrossed in a new project concerning Princesses of Heart, or something like that. That was where my friend Alice had come from, and there were three more that I had yet to meet. And Riku had forbidden me from meeting them.

And Jafar was dead.

I placed my hands and ran them over my legs. The movement was soothing.

That man Clayton had died earlier. I had overheard Hades mentioning something about having to completely revive a three-headed beast named Cerberus.

Somewhere...deep in my heart, I realized with a pang that many Heartless were gone. Completely obliterated. They were no longer there; their hearts and the hearts they had collected were free.

Sora.

It was all because of him.

This one boy had so much power over my entire life.

I glanced out the window, narrowing my eyes so I could safely look into the surprisingly bright light. With a shake of my head and a loud yawn, I reached my arms up and arched my back in a stretch. I swung my legs over and let my feet touch the floor.

Sora and I...we were intertwined. We were ALL intertwined. It was because of me and my kind that he was even needed in the first place. It was because of him that all of my companions were dead and gone. It was because of me that he and Riku were no longer home safe with that girl. It was because of Kairi that Riku was distant and emotionally detached from people. It was because of Maleficent that I grew up in a world of shadow.

And it was because of King Ansem that all of this happened.

King Ansem and his apprentices.

My stomach twisted and grumbled in hunger. I stood and opened my door to the hallway and left in search of the kitchen. My feet barely registered a noise across the floor. Heartless sprang up near me every now and then. I recognized their presence with a warm hello, pleased I could still communicate with them.

Let's see. What were their names again? There were six of them. Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo.

Who was the last one?

Oh yes.

Xehanort.

I shuddered when I thought of his name.

What a nasty, vile man. All he cared about what understanding hearts. He didn't care about anyone else's feelings, or the misery he put us original Heartless through.

I turned a corner and smiled when a Green Requiem morphed through a portal to meet my face. Its eyes squinted, curved up in as much a smile as it could muster. I flicked its metal tin hat and laughed at its disorientation. I apologized giddily and moved along. The Heartless swerved around, hovering skittishly, and followed me. I didn't mind.

I wondered what ever happened to King Ansem and his apprentices. I remembered vaguely a mass scene of chaos, of Heartless rampantly destroying all they saw. That day...eight years ago. Did King Ansem escape in time? Were the apprentices killed by the Heartless? I wouldn't put it past Derox or Exelle or Frost to kill them. Every single Heartless in the dungeons hated the humans with an animalistic passion.

Oh well.

They deserved it.

**(xxx)**

"Oh dear. I do wish you didn't have to leave."

I looked over at Alice from my coloring.

After eating breakfast without a disturbance, I found several small sticks of wax, died different colors with food coloring. They each had a name inscribed on their sides, which read titles like 'carnation pink' and 'macaroni orange.' Of course, I had no idea what carnations or macaroni were, but it was fun to pretend. I showed my find to Alice and she, delightedly, told me they were called crayons and you made pictures with them.

At the moment, we were creating images on the walls of her room. On her side, she made a recreation of her home world, with card people and mazes made of hedges and bright pink cats and charmingly silly tea parties. On my wall, I was etching in a web of all the people I knew and how they were connected. Sora and King Ansem were in the middle, and I was busy coloring in the king's beard with a yellow crayon.

I sighed and traded my yellow crayon for the 'violet' crayon. "I know," I agreed. "It's a lot of fun to talk to you."

Alice reached for the white crayon and began to color a rabbit. "You are the only person I get to talk to," she said forlornly. "It shall seem so lonely while you are away. I shant know what to do with myself."

Glancing thoughtfully at her, I said, "It's only for a few days. I'll be back soon. And besides, I'll leave the crayons with you, so you can draw your whole world in the room. And I can leave you some of my books, since I won't be able to read underwater."

She set down her crayon and reclined against a wall, taking a rest from her active coloring. I, still carrying my purple crayon, took a seat next to her. We stared at a blank wall together.

"How curious. I wonder what it is like to live underwater. How do you breathe? Do you talk?"

I observed the purple crayon, turning it over and passing it carelessly through my fingers. "I'm not sure. I wonder how I eat...or how I go to the bathroom."

We both looked at each other, almost incredulously, before we erupted into a fit of giggles.

"I suppose you'll find out soon enough!"

"Alice! That isn't helping!"

We let our laughter die down before continuing the conversation.

"Rexen, will you promise to tell me everything you see while you are there?"

I began to peel off the wrapper of the crayon I was playing with. "Of course. I'll probably be so excited; I won't be able to wait. I'll tell you what the world is like, and how the people act, and what everything looks like..."

She gazed sadly at her colored wall and didn't speak. I cocked my head slightly as I looked at her. What was she thinking? I suddenly felt a pang of guilt in my chest; reminded that she was stuck in this room all the time, except for the small bathroom adjoining her prison. She had not seen the outside world in quite some time. I promised myself that I would let her out for a while when I got back.

Alice's eyes were roaming over the cat and the queen and the cards and the upside-down room.

"I...I would so like to go home..." she mumbled.

She was crying.

**(xxx)**

Ursula had arrived in Hollow Bastion with the rest of the other members, and it was time for me to leave.

I said farewell to many of the Heartless and to Alice, after depositing the books and any special trinket I could find, and was on my way to the meeting when I decided I should say goodbye to Riku, even though he had been mean to me.

I searched through the kitchen and his room and had just finished searching the upstairs when I noticed, from the top of the banister, that the main doors were cracked slightly.

I summoned up a portal and morphed outside, where I saw him sitting on the edge, gazing out across the misty horizon. I walked up quietly and sat next to him. He did not acknowledge my presence.

"You know," I said. "I'm still mad at you."

His eyes, the color of 'sea-foam green,' remained steady on the skyline, but flickered with remorse. He remained silent.

"It still hurts where you grabbed me. The spots are a little bit dark, so you can tell where it is. See?" I pointed at the small bruises on my arms that highlighted where his hands had been.

He bit his lip. "I said I was sorry."

"I know. I just wanted to show you, so you would say sorry again."

Riku pointedly looked away from me, avoiding looking at the bruises. He wrung his hands slightly. "Sorry," he muttered harshly.

"Oh no," I said softly.

"What?" he turned on me, half-glaring. "This isn't why you wanted to come out here? To explain to me in great detail how I hurt you? As if I don't feel bad enough? No shit Rexen, I feel terrible. I've never wanted to apologize for anything so bad in my life."

We stared at each other in silence, the mist engulfing us. It sent shivers up the back of my neck.

"I'm sorry I made you feel bad. I just didn't know how to talk to you, because I wasn't sure if you were still mad. So I thought I'd make you sad first, because people are more willing to say goodbye when they're sad than when they're angry."

Riku looked at the bruises and gingerly reached out to touch them. I hesitantly backed away; they were still tender.

"What do you mean, more willing to say goodbye? Are you leaving?" he asked.

I nodded and glanced out at the horizon. "Yes, Maleficent is making me go back with Ursula after the meeting today to help bring Heartless to her world."

"Oh."

"I'll only be gone for a few days though; I'll be back soon. You can probably do a lot of searching for Kairi while I'm away."

He snorted a little and stared down at his hands. "Yeah, if Maleficent ever lets me get off this hunking piece of earth."

I averted my attention to him curiously. "What do you mean?"

Riku scooted a little closer and put an arm around my shoulder as he pointed out to the horizon hidden in fog. "You ever notice how Maleficent never lets us go out and do our own thing? We always have to stay here and do whatever she asks us to."

"That's because we never know when she might need us." I could feel his breath on my skin.

"That's just the bullshit she feeds us. She just gives us random things to do, but it's not for anything! I haven't gotten any closer to finding Kairi, and you haven't gotten any closer to becoming a real human. When was the last time she let you research that?"

I was stunned speechless; I had completely forgotten about trying to become human.

He laughed at me. "You see, that's what I mean! She's brainwashing us! Maleficent is keeping us so busy with all these meaningless tasks that we forget why we joined her in the first place. She just wants us to do the stuff she needs to get done, not what WE need to get done. To be honest, I think all she cares about is herself and becoming 'Mistress of all Evil,' as opposed to caring about you and me, you know?"

I gazed up at his eyes, glowing and intense. He held a firm grip on my shoulder, but it wasn't painful. It was nice, like he was holding on to something precious.

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?"

He stared down at me and his eyes softened, loosing their intensity. A ghost of a smile touched his mouth. "You know what? Kairi said the same thing to me, a few days before my world was destroyed." He brushed some of the bangs out of my eyes.

"You were made to look like her. Maleficent asked me to think of a girl's body, and I thought of Kairi's first. Except taller..." he chuckled slightly. "I would have liked her better if she were taller. And it's so funny how things turned out...you act a lot like her too. Your mannerisms and the way you laugh; stuff like that."

I gently grazed the side of his face with my fingers. "You miss her a lot, don't you?"

"Yeah," he said quietly.

I narrowed my eyes and searched for the emotion on his face. "You...you were in love with her too..."

"I think so..." he said. "At least, a small part of me was. But the other part knew Kairi and Sora were meant for each other, so I have to keep searching."

Riku hesitantly reached out and brushed his fingertips on my arm. I flinched, but our eyes never looked away. He smiled ever-so-slightly and moved his hand from my arm to my face.

"Searching for what?" I asked.

He pulled my face closer to his and he leaned in, making our lips touch. He tightened his hold on my shoulder and moved his other hand to the back of my head to bring my body closer to his and deepen the intimacy. Our eyes closed.

My heart felt like it was inflating so big it would burst at any moment. At first, all we did was hold our lips together. Riku then began to push his mouth harder into mine, and I started to suck at his lips. I brought my arms around his neck and threaded my fingers through his silver hair.

I supposed that was what they called kissing.

I had read about it in books before, but the way it was described made it seem like some simple gesture of affection. I could tell in my heart that this was no simple gesture.

This was letting go of all inhibitions, letting go of all rational thought and letting your heart take the lead.

Our mouths were moving rhythmically with each other. At some point, our tongues got involved, all tangled up in each other in a way that was charmingly sweet. I could see stars in my closed eyes, I was so happy. All the far-off worlds were twinkling brightly at me, and...

Wasn't I supposed to be going to a new world today?

Hadn't I come to just say goodbye to Riku, not to kiss him?

Oh no.

The meeting!

My eyes shot open. I gasped and broke away from Riku, moving to stand up. He looked up at me with wide eyes and reached out for me. "Wh-where are you going?" he asked. His hair was an absolute mess and the outer edges of his lips were pink from our kissing. I did not want to know what I looked like.

"The meeting! Maleficent and the others are probably waiting for us!" I hurriedly stood up and offered Riku my hand, which he gladly accepted, and stood alongside me. "Shit!" he muttered under his breath.

We both broke into a run, making a break for the meeting room.

Our hands were still gripping together tightly, our fingers intertwined.

**(xxx)**

"Ah, there you are. We were beginning to believe you weren't going to attend," Maleficent said sharply as Riku and I burst into the meeting chamber, both out of breath and red in the face. "Compose yourselves, please. All this huffing and puffing is unsightly. You are embarrassing me."

We hurried silently to our seats, humiliated and exhausted.

"Maleficent, it seems your apprentices are making it a habit to show up late and together," Captain Hook smirked.

Hades began to laugh and addressed Riku, "Hope Maleficent keeps a constant supply of protection for ya!"

The members began to howl with laughter and Riku's face flushed a deep red. I didn't know what Hades meant. I didn't understand what was so funny. It must have been at Riku's expense, for he was obviously embarrassed.

Maleficent clearly did not find it amusing. Her gaze turned stony as she regarded Riku and me. I returned her stare with a bit of confusion, which she must have taken as a sign of my innocence in the matter. She then glared at the Lord of the Dead.

"Hades!" she barked. The laughing stopped and the room was silenced. "We have important business to discuss! It is shameful enough for my apprentices to be tardy, but for you to be making disgraceful, lewd comments is altogether unnecessary. I will deal with my apprentices later, but we do not need to discuss this at present.

"Now, we have found ourselves a chance at repositioning. Sora has returned to Traverse Town, and will soon be on the move to reach Atlantica." She nodded to Ursula before summoning an image in her dragon-toothed viewing stone. It was of Sora in the accessory shop, looking over a small, wooden toy. I gasped. It was Pinocchio! "I have become curious about the workings of this creature concerning the heart and wish to study further. Riku, after the meeting, you will follow them and retrieve the puppet for me."

Riku nodded and squeezed my hand. I was glad he had calmed down, but why now was Maleficent interested in Pinocchio when I had already dealt with him? "This is also a chance escape. We have received reports from Ursula that a rather large whale inhabits the area between Agrabah and Atlantica. This animal is large enough to swallow several of our vessels at a time, and will most likely halt Sora's quest for a short period. Riku, you must look in to that as well."

Maleficent turned on me. "Now, for you, my dear. You will accompany Ursula back to her world and arrange what we discussed previously. You will follow all of Ursula's instructions, but feel free to make liberties on your decisions concerning the Heartless. You are the expert here, after all." Scattered chuckles interrupted her. Riku looked at me with sympathy and rubbed my hand with his fingers. I shifted uncomfortably.

"Ursula, take special care of Rexen. She will ask you many questions and I expect all of them answered. It will also be noted that if she is mistreated, I will gladly come to your world and show you what I can do with the power of the Heartless."

Ursula glowered at me and pursed her fat lips, but nodded.

Maleficent then explained what the other leaders should do to prepare for the coming of Sora, as he would most likely travel to their worlds in the near future. Hades was to organize an extremely difficult tournament; Oogie Boogie was to continue creating chaos amongst his peers; and Captain Hook was to search for any possible Princesses of Heart in the next galaxy over.

"Will the masked stranger please step forward?"

I watched curiously as the hooded man that Riku had shown around Hollow Bastion emerged from the shadows to flank Maleficent.

"I must ask you a favor. Would you please supervise the Heartless while I am short of apprentices? They do not act up while Rexen is here, but when she decides to leave, the Heartless become anxious and restless." Maleficent sent me a knowing look and I shrank down in my seat.

The masked stranger nodded. "I will do what is asked of me."

I narrowed my eyes to study him more closely.

"Very well then, this meeting is adjourned. I will summon you when it is time for Rexen to return, in which time we will debrief on our required tasks and consider our options." Maleficent and the other members all began to speak amongst each other and moved to leave.

Riku turned to me with interest. "What's wrong?"

"That man..." I whispered. "There's something...not right...about him."

He observed Riku and I silently before turning and leaving.

"Well, well, well, it seems high time for us to be leaving now," Ursula called, her salty voice echoing across the stone chamber.

I stood and turned to Riku. "Goodbye Riku," I said. "Be careful with Pinocchio."

He nodded distractedly. "I will...off on more pointless missions, I guess. But hey, maybe he's like you. If I figure out what's wrong with him...maybe we can make you a real human."

Riku broke out in a smile as I squealed and hugged him. "You would do that for me?! You're so nice Riku!"

He laughed, "Of course I would."

"Didn't you hear me, fish bait? My patience is running thin!"

"I'm coming!" I called over my shoulder. "Goodbye. I'll see you in a few days. Don't do anything stupid."

He smiled and reached for my hand, which he squeezed. "Yeah, I'll see you."

I gave him a quick hug, glad that he wasn't angry at me anymore, and ran to follow Ursula out the door.


	13. Chapter 12

**The Requiem**

A soft breeze.

A gentle breeze was flowing over me, making my hair twist and curl.

I groaned and stretched my arms.

My hands rubbed at my eyes, which itched and ached from being shut for so long.

The breeze draped over me like a soft current, cool and clear and clean.

I let out a breath.

I could feel the air I let out pushing against an unseen force.

My hair swayed serenely.

I grimaced as a sharp, scratchy sensation plunged into my thigh.

I moved to brush away the irritation.

My eyes shot open.

That wasn't skin I was brushing the irritation off of.

It was...scales.

I was lying on a deep purple rock that lay on the outskirts of a dark, circular room. The room revolved around a cauldron of sorts, with finger-like tendrils reaching out. There were cabinets everywhere, and pink strings of exotic plants hung from the ceiling in various patches. There was a large vanity, similar to Maleficent's, that housed a very large mirror. Oddly shaped flowers and small crustaceans littered the top of the desk. It was smeared with makeup.

Upon hearing a disturbing sound, I jerked my head towards the entrance. What looked like large clumps of brown weeds, writhing together in a current, were moaning and howling in an eerie call. I looked closer before shrinking back in fear; the plants had eyes and mouths.

I slowly sat up.

This must be where Ursula lived.

I glanced around. Strings of pearls were entwined into my hair. I was wearing practically nothing; merely two white shells on my chest. They were not strapped to me in any way. I wondered what was holding the shells on. My eyes descended further down my body.

At the swell of my hips, my skin drastically changed from a peachy-pale shade to pearly white scales. The scales continued downward, encompassing where my legs would have been. It was like the scales had wrapped and bound my legs together. It was an odd sensation, having what felt like only one leg. As my tail reached its end point, a pair of translucent gossamer fins emerged. I flexed them and pushed a current upward with glee.

"I'm a fish!" I warbled joyfully.

I moved to stand up and immediately floated off the rock.

"Ouch," I mumbled, rubbing sore spot on my head where it knocked into the floor. This was going to be harder than I thought. This body was new to me, and I needed to figure out how it functioned. 'Oh well,' I thought grimly. It wouldn't be the first time I'd have to adapt to a new body.

"Ah, so the little starfish is finally awake."

I twisted my body to look towards the voice. The movement I made sent dirt on the floor clouding up around me.

"Ursula?"

One of her fat black tentacles wrapped around my forearm, while another constricted around my torso. She pulled me up, setting me down in a sitting position. "This is going to be a lot of work, teaching you how to swim. Good thing I won't be the one to do it," she cackled.

"What do you mean?" I asked, swishing my fins back and forth. I swayed my arms around in circles, relishing in the feeling of the water. I bobbled my head from side to side, watching my hair twist up and around in ringlets and curls that melded with the underwater breezes.

"It isn't possible for me, my sweet. I am not part of the general merfolk population; I'm of a different species. I swim in a different manner." Using one of her legs, she brushed her short hair out of her face and primped the sides.

"Then what are you?"

"I am a squid."

"That's a weird name."

I suppose I had begun to annoy her. Maleficent never liked it when I asked too many questions or made unnecessary remarks, but she would warn me when I was overloading with chatter. Ursula, however, was not accustomed to dealing with a Heartless child/teenager, and was blundering blindly.

She swiftly lifted half of her tentacles and pinned my arms to my sides, locked my tail against the rock, held my head firm, and covered my mouth to shut me up.

"Do me a favor and don't talk so much. It pains me to hear such unnecessary words. Silence is golden, my dear." She chortled, as if she liked the way the notion sounded. "I have no time to look after you, seeing as I am busy with philanthropic acts." She laughed. I was confused; doing nice things for people was funny? "Ah, such a charm. Tell me, my child, have you seen my garden yet?"

I shook my head.

"Now there's a sight to see!" she crooned. "Come, darling." Lifting me up, she drifted over to the entrance of her cave. I cringed in fear as I watched the wriggling plants wail and moan. "These are my dear flowers. They each have a story to tell, but no one ever pays any mind to what they say when they come in!" she laughed heartily.

One of the brown flowers launched itself onto my wrist and clung tight. I screamed and scratched at it, trying to pry it off my arm.

Ursula must have been amused by everything, because she laughed again.

"There, there..." she patted the top of my head when the plant finally loosened its slack and slithered to the floor. "They mean no harm. They just get excited when they see a new arrival, even though you aren't staying...only visiting."

Many of the things she said I could barely understand. What did she mean?

"Ursula, do you get lonely?"

She laughed yet again. "Of course not, my sweet. I have many suitors who come to call, and I have my babies."

"Your babies? Who're they?"

"Flotsam and Jetsam, of course. Oh, that's right...you haven't met them yet! My little poopsies would just die to meet you. Flotsam! Jetsam!" she called.

Slithering from the darkness came two gray-green snakes. They had oddly colored eyes and wicked grins. "Yessss?" they hissed in unison.

"Ooh!" I squealed happily. "What pretty worms you have!" I pulled an arm loose from Ursula's grip and reached out to pet one. They shied away immediately and hissed, "_Wormsss?!_" as if they were offended. One snapped at my fingers, but I jerked away too quickly before he could latch on to anything.

Ursula cackled. "My dear, they are not worms. They are called eels. I keep forgetting that Maleficent keeps you locked up in that castle of hers, oblivious to the other worlds. It's so charming how stupid you are!"

"It's not Maleficent's castle, its King Ansem's."

"Yes, yes, of course." Ursula did not seem to care whose castle it was. "Now, Flotsam and Jetsam will take you to a place where you can swim in peace and quiet. I must be off to do my important work!"

She released me from her hold and left, just like that, with her mean, puke-colored worms as my only companions.

**(xxx)**

"Push up, then down...push _up_, then down...Ugh!"

I was in an abandoned cove, not far from Ursula's cave, and I was completely lost in everything. I had no idea where I was, no idea how to swim, and no idea what was going on in anything else I was doing.

Flotsam and Jetsam had left me all alone, obviously not caring for my well-being. I didn't mind, they were not the sort of creatures I wanted in my company.

I tried flexing my tail again to propel myself forward and crashed into a rock. I had pushed too hard this time. The force left me dizzy and I put a hand to my head, trying to gather my wits. I bit my lip to stop from crying. My throat was starting to burn.

I watched some nearby fish floating along amiably.

They made it look so easy!

I gently receded to the ocean floor, defeated and upset. There was no way I was going to learn how to swim on my own, and I had yet to see any real merfolk, or whatever Ursula had called them.

How was I supposed to summon Heartless if I didn't even know how to live in this world?

A frustrated sigh escaped my mouth.

My throat was starting to tighten, and my eyes clenched shut. I knew I was going to start crying. My nose was clogging up. I took in a quick breath, but I didn't accomplish it before my eyes were filled with a warm wetness. Burying my face into my arms, I hunched over on to my pearlescent tail.

I let out a sob and I broke down crying.

My hair rose up around me, the pearls still glittering amongst my auburn hair. My nose was running and everything was burning. My head was throbbing and I wasn't sure I was breathing right in this underwater prison.

It was a mistake for Maleficent to send me here. Ursula didn't care for my well-being at all; she just wanted for me to do my job and get out of her hair. Her stupid little eels were meaner than she was. I hadn't seen a single friendly creature since I had gotten here. Granted, that hadn't been very long ago, but it was still upsetting.

Didn't anyone care about the poor little Heartless girl-fish?

"Hello? Is someone down there?"

I looked up and sniffled, my eyes red and my face splotchy.

A girl not much older than I was came swimming into view. She had pretty blue eyes and fierce red hair that was thick and billowing. Her tail was the color of my 'grass green' crayon from back in Hollow Bastion and she wore purple clam shells on her chest. She was alone.

"Oh no, are you ok?"

I rubbed at my nose and shook my head. I was too upset to lie to her.

Her voice was bright and comforting. "What's the matter?"

"I-I'm completely lost, a-a-and no one's being nice to me, a-and I c-can't even _s-swim_!" I bawled.

"Oh no! That's awful!" She rushed over to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders in a hug. I let out a few more sobs before I was contained enough to say anything else.

"Thank you," I mumbled, taking in a good sniffle.

"It's not a problem at all," she said with a smile. "It's the least I could do. My name's Ariel. What's yours?"

"Rexen."

**(xxx)**

"Wow, look how much better you are!" Ariel exclaimed.

I giggled. "I know!" I stated proudly as I did a backwards flip.

Swimming wasn't as hard as I originally thought. All it took was following the currents the ocean provided and gently pushing your fins up and down. I was still a little shaky, but I had improved by leaps and bounds.

Ariel was easily one of the fastest friends I had ever made. She was so nice and outgoing and fun that I would be crazy not to like her. To improve my situation even more, the fish and other ocean creatures that had ignored me before now acknowledged me along with Ariel.

"So Rexen," Ariel began. "You still haven't told me where you're from. You'd have to be from pretty far away if you're not used to swimming in these waters."

I was silent while I pondered my answer. Hadn't Maleficent once told me something about being subtle in new worlds? How they weren't supposed to know that I was different? Something about...muddling? That had to be it.

"I'm from another ocean," I declared.

Ariel still seemed curious as she gave me an amused glanced, but thankfully didn't press any further.

"Ariiiiieeeeeeeellllll!"

I let out a shriek as a fat blur of blue and yellow, out of nowhere, came ricocheting into Ariel's stomach. The force of the impact sent her and the blue and yellow blur spinning several feet.

"Ow...Oh, Flounder?"

In her arms, Ariel was cradling a small but pudgy blue and yellow fish. He had fat cheeks and a barrel-like body. His fins were surprisingly short for a fish his size. His pink tongue was lagging out of his mouth as he tried to catch his breath.

"Ariel, there..._puff_...was a..._puff_...shark!" he wheezed, obviously emotionally distraught.

"What's a shark?" I asked.

Ariel raised an eyebrow at me as she loosely brushed some of her hair out of her face. "Didn't you have sharks back in your ocean?"

I shook my head, confused.

The fish seemed to have gotten over his exhaustion and, as soon as he noticed me, was struck with fear and quickly swam to hide in Ariel's hair. "Ariel!" he whispered loudly. "Who's that?"

Giggling, Ariel weaved the fish out of her hair and held him out to me. He cringed away as I curiously went to inspect him closer. "Flounder, this is my new friend Rexen. She's really nice. Rexen, this is my best friend Flounder. He's a little shy around everyone he meets, but that's just because he's a guppy."

"I am not!" came the indignant reply from Flounder, who was scowling back at Ariel.

She tugged at his fins. "You are too! Who came crashing into me when he thought he saw a shark? Hmm?"

I laughed and said, "Hi Flounder. It's nice to meet you." I held out my hand to him, but he merely regarded me with red cheeks.

"Flounder!" Ariel exclaimed, scandalized. "Don't be rude!"

Exasperated, Flounder looked away from me as he held out one of his little fins. I took it, giggling, and very delicately shook it.

"There! Now, that wasn't so hard, was it, you little guppy?"

Releasing him and swimming away, Flounder swirled around quickly with annoyance on his face to glare at her. "Arieeel!" he groaned. "I'm not a guppy!"

Ariel came up behind me. Placing her hands on my shoulders, she peeked around my hair. "You are too a guppy! Why were you blushing when she was shaking your fin?"

Flounder's face flushed. "I was not!"

I glanced back at Ariel. "He was blushing?"

"Was not!"

Ariel, giggling with delight, said, "Yes he was! But don't worry Rexen, he only gets like that around pretty new mermaids!" she joked.

"I do not!"

We laughed some more, with Flounder fluttering around us, trying to prove Ariel wrong. After about thirty minutes of getting used to their company, we had finally settled down by reclining on some rocks and watching the rippling sun above us.

"I wonder what's up there..." I murmured as an afterthought.

Ariel's head shot up and I heard a groan from Flounder. Her face split apart in a wicked grin. I had never seen someone's face get so excited.

"Do you want to go see?" she asked me eagerly.

Another groan from Flounder. "Aw, Rex, why'd you have to ask that?" he complained. "Now we'll _have_ to go up there, and then she'll _have _to show you some cool thing that she happens to discover, and then _I'll_ get in trouble from Sebastian or King Triton or somebody all because she _had_ to go up there and show you."

I looked up animatedly. "What's up there that's so bad? We should go check it out!" I said.

Immediately, I received a joyous "_Yes_!" from Ariel and a terrified "No!" from Flounder.

Ariel started swimming upward and I followed suit. Flounder stayed where he was for a moment before letting out an overblown groan of defeat and hurrying to catch up with us.

"We're going to get in so much trouble for this..." he grumbled.

Ariel merely shrugged and rolled her eyes with a giggle. "Don't be a guppy!" she chastised him cutely.

"I'm not a guppy!"

**(xxx)**

We had reached the shore and were slinking around some rocks to make sure we weren't seen. The water was much warmer here. We had almost broken the water and Ariel was searching around the shallows for what she called treasure.

Ariel turned to me giddily. "Isn't this fantastic?" she whispered.

I smiled as Flounder hissed, "We're going to die!"

"What's so bad about it?" I asked him.

"There are birds up here, an-and dangerous things, and _humans!_"

I stayed stock still as Ariel sped over to dig under some washed up shells and Flounder nervously followed, afraid to be left far behind her. Humans...did that mean people like Riku and Captain Hook and Jafar and Sora? If humans weren't welcome here..._uh-oh_...

Anxiously, I raised my head. What was so bad about being up above the water?

Ariel didn't seem to have one lick of fear of humans. Then again, she didn't seem like the type of girl to be afraid of anything. Flounder seemed stricken with fear at the thought. Then again, he seemed to be the type of fish who was afraid of everything.

I broke the water and took a deep breath.

It smelled like salt and flowers and grass and sun and water and fish all rolled into one. It was an overload of nature, and I coughed at the intensity of it all. I was surprised by what I saw.

I was facing a beach.

I had seen pictures of beaches before in books I had read back home. It was strange to be facing it from the water, taking it all in. There were yellow sand and crushed shells and patches of weeds up past the tidal line. Farther up shore, there was a huge castle that rose out of the earth. It was an odd building, made primarily of white and red stones. The walls were smooth and the roof was slanted and the windows were high and domed.

Glancing around, I nearly let out a gasp. I hid a little further behind my rock, but arched around to get a better look.

There were people right there!

A person in a long black cloak with silver drawstrings and silver zippers and black boots and a black hood stood not too far away. I had been right; it was just like the normal humans I encountered everyday.

The person pushed back their hood and I was even more intrigued.

He was a man, not terribly older than Riku. I had never seen hair more bizarre than his; a shining golden that was shaved close on the sides, sticking up at the top, and hanging down in the back. His eyes were the color of the sea I was swimming in.

Shrinking back a little when he bent down, I heard him speak.

"Axel, are you sure you're ready to do this? I mean, water isn't exactly your element..."

"Shut the hell up, Demyx! I can do this just fine. It's not like I've never swum before."

"I think you mean 'swam'..."

"Shut the fuck up!"

Another man in a black cloak joined him. He had a very broad chest and had arms the size of my waist, but his face was hidden from me.

"Number VIII, are you ready to embark on your mission?" His voice was deep and emotionless.

"Yeah, Number V," came the bodiless voice.

"Come back when you feel you are complete. Number IX and I will scout out the surface and await your return. We will then compile our notes and report back to the Superior."

"We will?" the man with weird hair questioned shrilly.

"Yes. Goodbye, Number VIII."

"Goodbye Number V. See you later, Number IX."

"Bye Number VIII!" Number IX waved giddily.

I quickly groped around to the other side of the rock just in time to spy the back end of a black octopus disappearing underneath the surf. I glanced back to the shore and noticed the two men were gone.

"Rexen?"

I let out a scream and turned.

Ariel was looking at me curiously, holding a green glass bottle that glittered in the sun. Only Flounder's eyes peeked out above the water, the rest hiding under Ariel's hair and the water.

"Are you okay?" she asked me.

I let out a breath and looked back at the empty shore. "Yeah," I sighed.

"What happened?" Flounder asked fearfully.

I put a hand to my head. "I don't really know."


End file.
